Trial begins in drive-by killing of mother of 6

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Wednesday, June 16, 2004 | 9:39 a.m.

Prosecutors told a jury Tuesday that they have the opportunity to hold a Hillside gang member accountable for the killing of a North Las Vegas mother of six and wounding of an 8-year-old girl while they were mourning the death of a relative.

Joey "Crazy Joe" Clark, 23, is charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and several counts of attempted murder and battery in the drive-by shooting that left 35-year-old Gwendolyn Jones dead. Clark faces life in prison on the charges.

The bullets fired on Aug. 25, 2001, toward a wake following the funeral for Jones' sister also hit four other people, including an 8-year-old girl who was shot in her right thigh.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Ed Kane said in opening arguments that Jones was not the intended victim, but was caught in the middle of a drive-by shooting planned by Clark to get revenge on Charles "C Thug" Holmes, a man who had shot Clark a month earlier.

Kane told the jury after Clark performed a "preliminary drive-by" with his one-time co-defendants, and after it was determined Holmes was present at the wake, the car carrying Clark came back down the street and unloaded a barrage of gunfire.

Kane said the evidence and testimony given by the prosecution's witnesses would show Clark was in the "shooter car" and that Clark had told people that he would seek revenge on Holmes for shooting him.

Prosecutors contend Clark was the shooter in the drive-by.

Clark's attorney, Special Public Defender Alzora Jackson, said her client's innocence rested on two basic facts.

"Joey Clark didn't kill Gwendolyn Jones, and Joey Clark wasn't there. That is essentially what this case is all about."

Jackson said she wouldn't deny that Clark was in a gang or that his nickname wasn't "Crazy Joe," but said it was "impossible for someone to be in two places at one time." Jackson contends Clark was at home at the time of the killing.

North Las Vegas Police Detective Michael Bodnar, however, testified the only witness to see Clark at his home at the time of the murder was his father.

And Jones' 16-year-old daughter, D'Andrea Matthews, testified she saw Clark in the "shooter car" and that Clark "leaned up from the back seat of the car to shoot" what police later determined was an SKS semiautomatic rifle at the crowd.

"My mom (Jones) was hugging my brother and telling him to do something and then the first shot was fired over my head," Matthews said. "He (Clark) was in the passenger side with a sling on his arm. After the shooting I went to check on my mom, but she was just lying there. I just started shaking her and screaming."

During Jackson's cross-examination of Matthews, however, Jackson raised questions about whether whether Matthews actually saw Clark in the car that day wielding a gun or if she was saying she did because she wanted someone held accountable for killing her mother.

Jackson said Matthews' testimony was inconsistent with what she told detectives and a grand Jury.

Jackson said the biggest difference between Matthews' statements concerned what she did and didn't see Clark do. Jackson said while Matthews testified on Tuesday she saw Clark shoot a gun from the car, she told a grand jury she didn't see Clark shoot or even hold a gun because she was running toward her house when the shooting began.

Matthews said she was "shook-up" by her mother's death and she "could have gotten some of the details messed up" because she was so upset.

Christina Banaster, a friend of Clark's, testified she heard Clark make reference to possibly getting revenge when she visited Clark in the hospital after getting shot.

"He (Clark) said he knew the guy that shot him," Banaster said. "He (Clark) mentioned he was going to have to handle his business, but didn't mention any names."

During direct examination Deputy District Attorney Sandra DiGiacomo asked Banaster if it was true that in her police statement she said Holmes was mentioned specifically, but Banaster said she only said "they" meaning her friend Prentice Coleman, her then-boyfriend Antonio Banks and Clark made reference to Holmes at the hospital.

Clark's one-time co-defendants in the Jones shooting, Perry Macklin, 22, Jamon Brooks, 23, and Anthony Hampton, 18, all entered plea agreements and were placed on probation and ordered to pay restitution.

In exchange for the their pleas Kane dropped nine other charges against the men, charges ranging from murder to attempted murder and discharging of a firearm out of a vehicle to promote, further or assist a gang.