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Tag: michael clark

  • Colorado man to be retried after 1994 murder conviction was vacated following CBI scandal

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    BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — A Colorado man will be retried in a 1994 murder in Boulder months after his release from prison due to a mishandling of DNA evidence connected to the case, a Boulder County judge ruled Thursday.

    Michael Clark was released from prison in April after spending more than a decade incarcerated for the murder of Marty Grisham. His conviction was vacated after the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office reviewed what they said was new evidence conducted by an independent lab that produced different DNA results than what was introduced during Clark’s trial in 2012.

    At the time, the prosecution called former Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) scientist Yvonne “Missy” Woods to testify, which helped prosecutors place Clark at the scene of the crime.

    Woods, who had worked for the agency for nearly 30 years before she resigned, was charged in January with 102 felonies for allegedly tampering with DNA evidence in at least 1,003 cases. Those allegations have cost the state millions of dollars, helped create a backlog of evidence examinations and thrown multiple criminal cases into disarray. The case against her is still moving through the courts.

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    Clarks’ conviction was the first to be vacated in the aftermath of the scandal.

    On Thursday, Ken Kupfner, a prosecutor with the Boulder District Attorney’s office, said he believes they can prove without a reasonable doubt Clark was responsible for Grisham’s shooting death.

    But Adam Frank, Clark’s attorney, maintained his client’s innocence, telling the judge during the hearing that there would need to be a full week of motions hearings in this case to get ready for the retrial.

    He requested a motions hearing take place in February of 2026 to accommodate their DNA expert’s availability and said the date was necessary for some upcoming motions.

    When asked by the judge what motions would be filed by the defense, Frank said he would plan on filing a motion to dismiss the case based on “outrageous government conduct.”

    After a back and forth, the judge set a Feb. 23 date for the motions hearing, and a tentative date for the retrial to begin on May 11, 2026.

    Clark’s attorney later provided the following written statement to Denver7:

    “Michael Clark did not kill Marty Grisham. In 1994, the Boulder Police Department did not find evidence that Michael Clark killed Marty Grisham. They did not find evidence that Michael Clark killed Marty Grisham because Michael Clark did not kill Marty Grisham.

    “The reason the Boulder County DA prosecuted Michael Clark in 2012 was because Missy Woods made the false claim that Mr. Clark’s DNA was at the scene of Mr. Grisham’s murder. Obviously, if that had been true, it would be an extremely damning piece of evidence. But let me be clear: Missy Woods’ testimony implicating Mr. Clark was false. The prosecution’s chosen lab re-tested the original evidence with improved modern technology and did not find Mr. Clark’s DNA. Missy Woods’ false testimony that Mr. Clark’s DNA was at the murder scene caused an innocent man to be convicted and wrongfully sentenced to life in prison.

    “Now, in what appears from the outside to be an attempt to protect Ms. Woods and CBI from that damning conclusion, Michael Dougherty is prosecuting an innocent man for murder 30 years after the incident based on the same evidence his office had in 1994 when they concluded they should not charge Mr. Clark. Putting aside the morals of that choice, it is deeply unfair. Evidence that helps demonstrate Mr. Clark’s innocence has been lost to the sands of time. We will show this at future court dates.

    “It is a tragedy that Mr. Clark and his family will have to go through this process, but that is outside their control. All we can do is confront the prosecution’s case in court.”

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  • Woman at center of Gascón juvenile sentencing controversy takes plea deal in Kern County killing

    Woman at center of Gascón juvenile sentencing controversy takes plea deal in Kern County killing

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    Hannah Tubbs — whose prosecution on sexual assault charges in 2021 marked one of the biggest controversies of L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s first term — pleaded no contest Tuesday in the killing of a homeless man in Kern County, prosecutors said.

    Tubbs, 27, entered the plea to charges of voluntary manslaughter, robbery and witness intimidation in the 2019 killing of Michael Clark near Lake Isabella, according to Kern County Dist. Atty. Cynthia Zimmer.

    Prosecutors filed murder charges against Tubbs last May, months after Gascón faced criticism for allowing Tubbs to be tried as a juvenile for the sexual assault of a child inside an Antelope Valley restaurant in 2014.

    Tubbs was 17 at the time of the assault but wasn’t linked to the attack until 2019, after police obtained her DNA when she was arrested in another state. By the time the case worked its way into an L.A. County courtroom, Gascón had been elected on a reform platform that included a blanket ban on trying juveniles as adults.

    The case exploded into a national debate over criminal justice reform early last year when Fox News obtained recordings of Tubbs bragging about receiving a light sentence on a jailhouse phone call and making crass remarks about her victim, who was 10 at the time of the attack.

    The Times later obtained law enforcement documents largely corroborating the Fox report and Gascón even questioned whether Tubbs, who is a transgender woman, had lied about her gender identity in order to receive lenient treatment.

    “It’s unfortunate that she gamed the system,” Gascón said in an interview with The Times last year. “If I had to do it all over again, she would be prosecuted in adult court.”

    The case led Gascón to backpedal on his juvenile policy and create a committee that could approve requests to try juveniles as adults. The panel has approved only one such case, but a judge later ruled that defendant should still be tried as a juvenile, citing changes in California law.

    The L.A. County district attorney’s office did not respond to an inquiry about Tubbs’ plea. Kern County prosecutors were investigating the homicide at the same time Tubbs’ case was playing out in L.A. County last year.

    In the Kern County case, Tubbs was charged with killing Clark after an argument at a homeless encampment where the two were living in April 2019. Clark’s body was not found until four months later. The local medical examiner’s office ruled that his drowning death was not an accident or suicide, according to Kern County Deputy Dist. Atty. Cole Sherman, who prosecuted Tubbs.

    Sherman said Clark also suffered broken ribs, indicating a struggle.

    Tubbs faces up to 15 years in prison at sentencing, according to Zimmer, who called the defendant a “dangerous individual.”

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    James Queally

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