Clark acquitted in woman’s death

Matt Pordum and Christina Littlefield

Friday, June 18, 2004 | 11:07 a.m.

A jury this morning found a 24-year-old North Las Vegas man not-guilty of killing a mother of six and wounding an 8-year-old girl in an August 2001 drive-by shooting

Joey "Crazy Joe" Clark was found not guilty on all counts in a drive-by shooting that killed 35-year-old Gwendolyn Jones and wounded a child attending the wake of Jones' sister.

Clark threw his fist in the air and yelled, "Yes!" as the verdict was read. He embraced his attorney, Special Public Defender Alzora Jackson as his family members rose to their feet and said "Thank you, God," and "Yes!"

District Judge Sally Loehrer pounded her gavel, called for order and told everyone to sit down through the rest of the hearing.

Authorities had alleged that Clark was the gunman in the attack and charged him with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and several counts of attempted murder and battery.

Prosecutors alleged he was trying to shoot Charles "C Thug" Holmes, a member of the Donnas gang whom Clark said he believe shot him a month earlier.

Clark had maintained that he was not in a car from which bullets were fired at the crowd of mourners. Clark said he was at home in bed with his arm in a cast because of a gunshot wound. He said he was watching the Los Angeles Lakers play the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA playoffs.

He said his father, George Clark, brother Antoine Clark, Shana Haley and two others were at the house with him.

George Clark, a bus driver for the Clark County School District and part-time security worker at The Mirage, had testified that his son was at home, and that Joey Clark had been in too much pain from the gunshots he had suffered to have taken part in a drive-by shooting.

He also noted that Joey Clark went to North Las Vegas Police detectives to clear his name after he had been mentioned as a suspect in Jones' slaying, against his father's advice.

Holmes, the alleged target, had testified that he did not see Clark at the scene of the shooting. Men who had also been charged for being in the car and had pleaded guilty to lesser charges testified that Clark was not part of the shooting.

But Chief Deputy District Attorney Ed Kane told the jury in his final arguments on Thursday that he believed that Clark was a "smart guy" and at some point it "occurred to him how to commit the perfect crime." After being shot, Kane said Clark had plenty of time to think of how he could get revenge on Holmes.

Kane said Clark realized if he expressed how serious his pain was and made sure never to leave the house, he could effectively convince family, friends and neighbors that he was bedridden and incapable of ever taking part in a drive-by shooting.

Kane said all it would have taken to get Clark up and out of the house was for Clark to get a call from his fellow Hillside gang members telling him they had spotted the man who shot Clark, and that's what happened.

Kane said medical records showed that 10 days before the shooting occurred that Clark's grip strength was intact, an increase of motion was present and he should increase activity with the arm.

Kane said the doctor's evaluation made it clear that Clark was able to shoot the semiautomatic rifle used to kill Jones and wound several others.

Kane also noted the testimony of Jones' 16-year-old daughter, who said she saw Clark holding the gun in the back seat of the car that drove up just before the shooting started. Her testimony differed from statements she made to detectives and the grand jury, in which she said she never saw who was in the car because she was running to the house.

Kane asked the jury to rely on Matthews' testimony saying "just because there are no fingerprints or ballistics and we live in this CSI world it doesn't mean he (Clark) didn't do it. Doesn't eyewitness testimony mean anything anymore?"

In her closing argument, Jackson told the jury not to confuse achieving justice for Jones' murder with finding an innocent man guilty.

"Don't try to get justice for Gwendolyn Jones by convicting someone for first- degree murder who didn't do it," Jackson said.

Jackson asked the jury not to convict her client based on his involvement in gangs, his nickname of "Crazy Joe" or what part of town he is from.

"I wish I had a client that wasn't in a gang, that was gainfully employed, that didn't have his hair in braids, but I don't" Jackson said.

"Joey (Clark) refused the deal (the plea bargain offered by prosecutors), the sweet deal that the other guys (co-defendants) got," Jackson said.

"If you evaluate this case on merit, you can't convict my client (Clark) because you don't convict someone of murder based on maybes," she added. "What connection did they (prosecutors) make between this monstrosity (a SKS semiautomatic rifle that was the murder weapon) and this man (Joey Clark)? There are no fingerprints, there's nothing."

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