The dominant background source for germanium gamma ray detector spectrometers used for some astrophysics observations is internal &bgr; decay. Externally segmented germanium gamma ray coaxial detectors can identify &bgr; decay by localizing the event. Energetic gamma rays interact in the germanium detector by multiple Compton interactions while &bgr; decay is a local process. In order to recognize the difference between gamma rays and &bgr; decay events the external electrode (outside of detector) is electrically partitioned. The instrumentation of these external segments and the consequence with respect to the spectrometer energy signal is examined.