a public defender

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Via Bardd Before the Bar comes the very sad news that one of our own - Gregory H. Clark - was shot and killed outside his home, in what seems to be a “hit”.

Attorney Gregory H. Clark, 61, was killed when he was gunned down while clearing his driveway on the northeast side of   town this afternoon.Police said Clark was shot several times in the back after a dark blue van stopped in front of his house near Sentinel Road and Oakforest Drive.The victim’s wife was also at home, but not injured, police said.Clark ran a small firm with offices on the east side.

While the police have not officially named a suspect, the Bardd reports, through gossip, that the main suspect is a former client. Not shocking. A client that Mr. Clark had twice sought to stop representing because of a breakdown in communication.

I didn’t see the trial.  But apparently all of the defendant’s motions in limine were granted, and all but one of the state’s denied.  There had been pre-trial motions to suppress evidence filed and fully litigated. There did not appear to be anything incompetent or ineffective in Clark’s handling of the case.

But there did appear to be something off.  At the hearing on the motion for a new trial, one of the attorneys from our office observed the defendant and Clark engaged in a rather heated argument.  During the hearing, the defendant pro-se argued that hw had received ineffective assistance of counsel.  And the defendant filed and argued, again pro-se, a motion that purported to be a complaint about prosecutorial misconduct, in the manner in which they had interviewed his witnesses. My guess is that he expected those witnesses to testify in a particular manner, and, after the State had talked to them, and presumably advised them of the penalties for perjury, they had not followed the script.  But that is only my conjecture.  I don’t know what happened, only that his motion alleged witness tampering on the part of the prosecutors.

Whether this man is indeed the culprit remains to be seen, but this sad event reminds me that while we put on a brave face every day and don’t worry about this sort of thing much, we do spend most of our time brushing up against the seedy underbelly of society. That is a choice we made, yes, but still this rankles. Things like this are rare, yes, but as with all crime, happen all too often.

I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do to avoid this sort of thing. Doesn’t seem like Mr. Clark did anything wrong and yet here we are.