Santa Ana : Murder Suspect to Be Tried for Escaping Jail

An alleged killer, one of two prisoners who fled from county jail in January, was ordered Thursday to stand trial on escape charges.

After a preliminary hearing in Santa Ana, Municipal Judge Robert E. Thomas ordered 23-year-old Robert Joseph Clark of Palm Springs to appear in Superior Court for arraignment April 17.

Clark was captured Jan. 31 at a Tustin motel about three miles from the jail from which he and convicted murderer Ivan Von Staich had escaped five days earlier.

The pair gained freedom from the jail’s rooftop recreation area by overpowering a single deputy, then using electrical cords to rappel down the side of the four-story building.

During Thursday’s hearing, Sheriff’s Deputy Frank Nin testified about how Clark and Staich overpowered him and locked him in a bathroom before they fled.

At the time of his escape, Clark was awaiting trial on murder and robbery charges in connection with the January, 1984, slaying of David Martinez, whose body was found in a field near Irvine.

Staich, meanwhile, was not captured until Feb. 22 when he tried to escape from Springfield, Mass., police who were questioning him about loitering near a senior citizens’ complex. He is continuing to fight extradition to Orange County.

When the 29-year-old Staich escaped, he was awaiting sentencing and faced up to 37 years in prison for second-degree murder and attempted murder convictions stemming from a 1983 attack on his former girlfriend and the murder of her husband.