Trial set to start in 2023 shooting at Berkshire by the Sea
UPDATE: Mark David Anderson's second-degree murder trial, scheduled for Sept. 22, was canceled on Sept. 9 by Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Cymonie Rowe at the request of Anderson's defense team. A new trial date wasn't set, but the trial is likely to be delayed until next year.
By Jane Musgrave
When Mark David Anderson is tried this month for the September 2023 slaying of popular Delray Beach computer tech Albert Camentz, only one of the two witnesses to the shooting will be called to testify.
The other, the former longtime director of Broward Addiction Recovery Center, fatally shot himself a year after Camentz was killed, court records show.
The death of 62-year-old Jack Feinberg, who defense attorneys have painted as a plausible suspect in Camentz’s killing, adds to the intrigue that has surrounded the case since gunshots rang out at a drug- and alcohol-fueled get-together at an oceanfront timeshare in Delray Beach.
“Nothing makes sense,” said Shawn Mahoney, a longtime friend of Camentz’s who has been following the twists and turns from his home in Flagstaff, Arizona. “It’s as weird today as it was the day after Al was shot.”
While state prosecutors say there is strong evidence that Anderson fatally shot Camentz, Feinberg’s death gives attorneys powerful ammunition to discredit their claims. Anderson, 47, a self-employed carpenter from Lake Worth Beach, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder. He faces a possible life sentence if convicted.
A pair of guns
Forensic experts determined that the type of bullet that killed the 58-year-old Camentz matched those in a gun Delray Beach police found in the timeshare Anderson was renting at Berkshire by the Sea, 126 N. Ocean Blvd. But, the experts couldn’t conclusively say that the gun, owned by Anderson, was the murder weapon.
The firearm Feinberg used to take his own life used the same .380-caliber bullets.
Susan Schneider, who was married to Feinberg and a witness to the shooting, said her late husband and Anderson owned the same type of guns. “I heard them discussing that they both had .380s,” she said during a deposition.
Even before they knew that Anderson and Feinberg owned similar weapons, defense attorneys Mike Dutko and Robert Gentile said much of the evidence against Anderson didn’t add up.
They questioned why Feinberg initially offered police only sketchy details about what happened and refused to talk further without having an attorney with him. When he finally met with police, his story changed.
Most of all, they questioned why Feinberg and Schneider claimed they didn’t know Camentz had been shot and drove him to their house six miles away instead of getting medical help.
In the midst of all the legal maneuvering, Anderson’s attorneys have also raised questions about their client’s health.
What was once a golf-ball-sized lump on the back of Anderson’s head has grown considerably since he was booked into the county jail, they wrote in court papers.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Cymonie Rowe refused their request to allow Anderson to be released on bond so he could have the lump removed and find out if it’s malignant.
Glenn Cameron, an attorney for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, said jail medical personnel are monitoring the growing mass and have offered to give Anderson pain medication for discomfort. Rowe can’t order the sheriff to provide treatment, he wrote in court papers. Both Rowe and Anderson’s attorneys agreed.
Drugs and alcohol
The trial, which is scheduled to last four days, will focus on the events that unfolded at the timeshare and Feinberg’s reaction to the news of his friend’s death.
After a night of drinking and listening to music in Boca Raton, Anderson invited Feinberg and Schneider to his timeshare. As the couple was driving to Delray Beach, Camentz called Feinberg. He agreed to join them, according to a report by Delray Beach police Det. John Caceres Duque.
Camentz had never met Anderson, Schneider told Caceres. When Camentz arrived, alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, nitrous oxide, and ketamine were flowing freely. Camentz grabbed a beer.
As Camentz, Feinberg and Anderson talked, Schneider told Caceres, she decided she wanted to take a dip in the hot tub. Schneider said she went to get a towel and Anderson disappeared into the bedroom.
When Anderson returned, Schneider said he was holding “a black object with both hands extended,” Caceres wrote. Anderson pointed at Camentz and a loud noise ripped through the apartment.
Feinberg fell off the couch, but got to his feet laughing. Camentz clutched his chest, saying he couldn’t breathe.
Schneider told Caceres she didn’t see any blood or holes in Camentz shirt and thought he might be having a heart attack. She said she wanted to take Camentz to Delray Medical Center, but he said he was feeling better and wanted to sleep at the couple’s house.
When they arrived at the house in the Floral Lakes community off West Atlantic Avenue, she said Camentz turned ghostly white and began complaining of chest pain. She called 911.
In a report, paramedics said they immediately determined that Camentz had been shot or stabbed. They took him to Delray Medical Center where he was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound to the chest.
Witness statements
When Caceres approached Feinberg at the hospital to ask him about the shooting, Feinberg said he was going to the hot tub when he heard a loud bang.
He said he didn’t know the name of the building where the shooting took place. His memory, he said, was muddled because he suffered from a “cognitive disorder,” the detective wrote.
He didn’t elaborate, but in his March 2023 resignation from the government-funded addiction treatment agency, Feinberg said that an unidentified illness he incurred during the pandemic had gotten worse.
After Caceres told Feinberg that Camentz had died, he refused to answer any more questions without an attorney.
By the time Caceres arrived at the couple’s house, Feinberg was already there. Caceres said he heard Feinberg yelling at his wife, telling her not to answer any questions without an attorney. Schneider ignored her husband. She told Caceres where the shooting occurred and who fired the fatal shots.
“Mark shot Al,” she told Caceres.
With Schneider’s information, police went to Berkshire by the Sea, found Anderson sleeping and arrested him. They found three blood spatters on an outside wall, later identified as belonging to Camentz.
A day after he refused to talk to Caceres, Feinberg changed his mind.
During a meeting with Caceres at the Ray Hotel in downtown Delray Beach, Feinberg confirmed what his wife had already told the detective. There hadn’t been any animosity between Camentz and Anderson. The four were having a good time.
The shooting was inexplicable, he said.
“I don’t know, why would he come out and done some sort of thing with some sort of weapon,” he told Caceres.
A licensed medical health counselor, Feinberg suggested Anderson may have been in a psychotic state. He suspected that Anderson had taken liquid LSD, along with other drugs, causing him to hallucinate.
Concocted stories?
But, Anderson’s attorneys said Feinberg’s decision to wait to talk to Caceres wasn’t an accident. It gave him and Schneider time to compare notes to make sure their stories matched, Dutko said at a 2024 court hearing.
Dutko didn’t respond to an email or phone call for comment about the upcoming trial. By office policy, prosecutors don’t talk about pending cases.
But, at the same 2024 hearing, Assistant State Attorney Jo Wilensky scoffed at the notion that Schneider and Feinberg concocted their stories. Their accounts of the shooting matched because both were in the timeshare and saw what happened, she said.
Feinberg offered a key detail, she said. He told Caceres he saw a green light flash just before the ear-splitting boom filled the apartment. The gun police found in Anderson’s timeshare was equipped with a green laser sight.
Like Wilensky, Mahoney said he is convinced Anderson is responsible for his friend’s death. But, he said, he worries that defense attorneys may be able to persuade a jury to focus on Feinberg’s lapses instead of the evidence against Anderson.
“It’s such an unbelievably sad story,” he said. “Al didn’t know this guy. This guy didn’t know him. Nothing about it makes sense.”
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