West Odessan scheduled to stand trial in September
July 27, 2010 10:25 PM
BY JIM MUSTIAN
For the past 29 months, Jan David Clark has sat in an isolation cell in the Ector County Detention Center wondering how things could have gone so awry.
Though he admits to killing his wife during an attempted exorcism in February 2008, he maintains he never intended to harm the woman he “loved and spoiled” for 17 years.
“That was not a willing thing that took place,” Clark, 63, recalled in a jailhouse interview Tuesday. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s still a supernatural thing.”
After more than two years of delays, Clark is scheduled to be tried this fall on murder charges in connection with the death of 59-year-old Susan K. Clark. About two dozen subpoenas were mailed Tuesday to various investigators and law enforcement officials, ordering them to appear for trial Sept. 13 in Judge Stacy Trotter’s 244th District Court.
Clark was unaware of the trial date before the interview but said he is more than ready. “I’ve waited long enough,” he said, adding he has not ruled out testifying in his own defense.
Authorities say Clark killed his wife in their Ferguson Avenue home in West Odessa. According to court filings, Clark told investigators he held his wife’s face to the floor of their bathroom when the exorcized spirit from her body entered his, causing him to kill his wife.
Investigators found Susan Clark wrapped in a bed sheet on her back with a cross and a sword atop her body. Preliminary autopsy results revealed she had been suffocated, court documents show.
Clark said he regrets attempting the exorcism alone, noting a group effort would have been more appropriate.
“My intention was to confront a demon I thought she had,” Clark said. “I had a pretty arrogant attitude about the whole thing.”
Clark acknowledged Tuesday that he did not have “all my oars in the water” at the time of his arrest. But he insisted that murder is the wrong charge because he “did not willingly” kill his wife.
“That ain’t right,” Clark said of the murder charge. “Never has been.”
Asked whether he should be accountable for his wife’s death, Clark said he feels he has already paid his penance by spending more than two years behind bars.
“I feel like I have been held accountable already,” Clark said.
Clark said he has bided his time by watching television and reading his Bible. Sgt. Gary Duesler of the Ector County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Clark has been held in “separation” because “we don’t want him around other people.”
“The man allegedly committed a heinous crime,” Duesler said.
Clark’s defense attorney, Lawrence Barber of Odessa, declined to comment on the case. District Attorney Bobby Bland, who is trying the case for the state, also declined to comment.
Over the past several months, Clark said he has grown accustomed to isolation. He said Tuesday he wouldn’t join general population even if given the chance. His only complaints are the quality of the food and the temperature of his cell.
“You could hang meat in my cell,” Clark said with a laugh.
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