Jury deliberates in fatal drive-by

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Friday, June 18, 2004 | 9:38 a.m.

A jury this morning resumed deliberations about whether a 24-year-old North Las Vegas man killed a mother of six and wounded an 8-year-old girl in an August 2001 drive-by shooting

Thursday's testimony included North Las Vegas Police Detective Michael Bodnar testifying that Joey Clark did make comments that implied he was home at the time of the shooting, but never said he was home watching a basketball game, as Clark and his father had testified Wednesday.

Authorities allege Clark was the gunman in the attack that left 35-year-old Gwendolyn Jones dead at the wake of Jones' sister.

Clark is charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and several counts of attempted murder and battery.

Clark's attorney, Special Public Defender Alzona Jackson, asked Bodnar if a request by Clark for a voice specialist and for phone company records to see if he was on the phone at the time of the murder led Bodnar to believe Clark was home at the time.

"That's what I believe," Bodnar answered.

Additionally Jackson asked if he thought Clark meant he was at home when Clark told Bodnar to ask his neighbors about his whereabouts. Bodnar said yes.

Bodnar said investigators never questioned Clark's neighbors "because they didn't know where he was living."

Prosecutors had re-called Bodnar in an attempt to show Clark didn't have a solid alibi when he went to the North Las Vegas Detective Bureau to tell detectives he had no part in the drive-by shooting.

Bodnar said when Clark gave his initial statement to police, however, he never produced a list of the people that he testified on Wednesday were with him at his house the day of the shooting. Clark testified his father, George Clark, brother Antoine Clark, Shana Haley and two others were at the house with him.

In her closing argument, Jackson told the jury not to confuse achieving justice for Gwendolyn 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 semi-automatic rifle that was the murder weapon) and this man (Joey Clark)? There are no fingerprints, there's nothing."

Chief Deputy District Attorney Ed Kane also asked the jury not to convict Clark based on his involvement with gangs, but instead on the evidence.

Kane said medical records indicate that 10 days before the shooting occurred a doctor examined Clark's arm that had been shot months earlier. The report said 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 semi-automatic rifle used to kill Jones and wound several others.

Kane went a step further in an attempt to support the testimony of Jones' 16-year-old daughter, D'Andrea Matthews. Matthews testified Tuesday that 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 grabbed the rifle and sat in a chair situated in front of the jury box. He asked the jury to envision him being in the back seat of a Chevy Camaro. He then asked the jury to imagine him being Joey Clark with a cast on his right arm. Kane rested the butt of the gun under his right arm. He then asked the jury to imagine Matthews was the door roughly 8 feet in front of him from where he was sitting.

Kane asked jurors use their common sense and realize that if Matthews was standing in that position she would have definitely been able to identify Clark.

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?"

Kane said 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 the alleged shooter Charles "C-Thug" 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.

The jury could decide whether they agree with Kane today.