Three Years and Four Lawyers Later, Murder Suspect Still Awaits Trial

Three years after he was arrested on a murder charge, and more than a year after his daring escape from the Orange County Jail, Robert J. Clark still has not been to trial. And he may not be for some time yet, now that he has a new lawyer.

Clark, who goes by the nickname “Wigs,” was arrested May 30, 1984, in the Palm Springs area in connection with the killing of David Lewis Martinez on New Year’s Day of that year. Clark and his co-defendant, David Eugene Hayes, 25, are accused of killing Martinez after he picked them up while hitchhiking.

Clark, 24, sued his first lawyer, Ronald G. Brower of Santa Ana, on Jan. 23, 1986, claiming that Brower was not making adequate defense preparations for his murder trial. The trial had been postponed nine times while Brower prepared the defense.

Three days later, Clark escaped from the jail with convicted killer Ivan Von Staich, who eluded police for a month. Clark was captured before the week was out. Police found him sitting by the pool at a Tustin motel.

They had escaped while being taken to the roof of the jail for recreation by a jail deputy. Clark wrestled the deputy to the ground, according to the deputy’s testimony at a preliminary hearing, and the two men used materials that apparently had been stored on the roof earlier to make a rope, which they used to descend from the roof.

Lawyer Replaced

The next month Brower declared a conflict of interest in Clark’s case because of his client’s lawsuit and was replaced by William T. Charvet of San Pedro, who had been the lawyer for William G. Bonin, the so-called Freeway Killer. But Charvet became ill and had to leave the case after less than three months.

Clark’s third lawyer was George A. Peters of Santa Ana, appointed in April. But Peters later discovered that he had represented the wife of Clark’s co-defendant briefly when she testified against both men at their preliminary hearing two years ago. A little embarrassed, Peters had to declare a potential conflict of interest, too.

So last week a fourth lawyer, George A. Quevedo of Irvine, was appointed to represent Clark.

Witnesses at the Clark-Hayes preliminary hearing said both defendants had admitted hitchhiking through Orange County in an effort to rob a driver.

They were picked up by Martinez, who first took them to his house in Santa Ana. When they got back into the car--according to statements to police by Hayes and witnesses who talked to Clark--Hayes sat in the front seat with Martinez, and Clark sat in the back. Clark then strangled Martinez with a bandanna, according to the testimony. The body was dumped near railroad tracks in Irvine.

One witness said Clark told him that Hayes had tried to get him to stop but that Clark answered that “he had everything under control.”

‘He’s Done It All’

“We’ve been fervent in our efforts to bring Mr. Clark to trial,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeoffrey L. Robinson said recently. “But Mr. Clark has been putting us off. He’s sued his lawyer; he’s escaped from jail--he’s done it all.”

A July 22 trial date has been set for Clark on the murder charge. Charges of escaping from the Orange County Jail are scheduled to follow.

But if prosecutors are eager to get to trial, Quevedo said he is not so sure that his client is.

“I’ve interviewed him twice at the jail, for a total of about six hours,” Quevedo said. “I would say he’s getting antsy that he’s been in jail for three years and is starting over with a new lawyer. He’s more concerned about his defense than how soon he will go to trial.”

Robinson said Quevedo has assured the court that he will try to be ready on the scheduled trial date.

“I’m told that it is not a complicated case,” Quevedo said in an interview. “But I’m starting at zero, and there’s a lot of work left to do. I can’t guarantee when we will be ready.”

If convicted, Clark faces a possible sentence of life in prison without parole. Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty because of his age.