By Carol James

special to The Star



I have been looking forward to Hewitt Clarke’s new book about the murder of businessman Larry Tiffee. When we moved to Meridian in the summer of 1985 there still were occasional articles in the newspaper about the murder. Then a few years ago a friend of mine, Laura Cagle, told me some interesting stories about her truck driving adventures with Robert “Peanut” Griffin who was one of the key figures in the murder.

However, I never new the whole story about the people involved with the Tiffee murder until reading Hewitt’s new book “Mississippi Blood.” Now I know what happened — I think. One thing I am sure of though, all of Hewitt’s research has produced an engrossing story.

In the second part of the book Hewitt takes us to the Lauderdale County Court House for several trials of the key players in the Tiffee murder. First there was the trial of Gloria Tiffee, wife of the deceased. The trial began on March 26, 1984. Ninety five witnesses were called to testify. The courtroom and halls outside were jammed with people. This trial was no doubt the hot topic of conversations in Meridian at the time.

The District Attorney Charles Wright was convinced Gloria Tiffee offered a hit man $30,000 to kill her husband.

Defense Attorney Dan Self stated that Gloria was a victim of her husband’s life of crime. There were two Larry Tiffees. The Larry Tiffee involved in criminal activities and the Larry Tiffee who was a husband and a father.

Of the many witnesses that were questioned, some were disreputable. For instance, there was the career criminal, Chucky Smith, who entered the courtroom wearing a bullet proof vest and escorted by two federal marshals. He told a dramatic story of Mr. Tiffee’s involvement in a big drug smuggling ring. His tale probably shocked many of Meridian’s citizens.

District Attorney Wright said of Smith’s statement concerning a threat having been made on Tiffee’s life, “That’s not hearsay, but double hearsay from a man whose reputation for reliability on both the state and federal level is at absolute zero. You can’t be more unreliable than that.”

The antics of the volatile and fickle Robert “Peanut” Griffin (the supposed body guard of Gloria Tiffee and the one who hired Lutes to kill Tiffee) got down right amusing. At one point he was on the roof of the courthouse yelling he wouldn’t “rat fink on the person who killed Tiffee” and the next time he was calling Lutes ignorant and a dummy for the way he handled the killing. This man seemed to have everyone in a turmoil.

The mysterious Richard Lutes was the one accused of actually killing Larry Tiffee. In the community an “image had been created of Lutes being a contract killer.” While on the witness stand, Peanut Griffin told a dramatic tale of money and murder, and Lutes chuckled. Lutes kept mentioning a mysterious man named “Al” who he claimed did the killing.

Hewitt reveals interesting tidbits of information on all the main players of the trials. On Lutes he points out how he was devoted to his family. When he was convicted, Lutes’ 19-year-old and 16-year-old sons and his wife took the stand to try to save him from the gas chamber. Lutes cried all during their testimonies. Others also spoke up for him including the jail supervisor, and several fellow inmates.

And of course, there was Gloria Tiffee herself. After reading the many different ways the witnesses portrayed her, I was reminded of the old TV show “To Tell The Truth” and I wanted to ask, “Will the real Gloria Tiffee please stand up.”

No doubt, Hewitt’s fascinating retelling of the details of all the trials pulls readers into a jury seat. This is a book that many in Meridian will be talking about because like one of the attorneys’s said, “I’ve never seen a trial like Gloria Tiffee’s.”