Mastermind in Fatal Robbery Sentenced to Die

Becoming the first person in Orange County to be condemned for two murders at which he was not present, William Clinton Clark was sentenced Monday to die for masterminding a botched robbery that resulted in one death, then ordering the murder of a witness in the case.

Judge John J. Ryan said that even though Clark did not commit either murder, he was responsible for both.

“I think the evidence in this case, while largely circumstantial, was absolutely overwhelming,” Ryan said.

Before imposing the death sentence, Ryan allowed the defendant to speak for more than an hour, then took the unusual step of responding directly to his remarks.

Clark, 44, of Los Angeles insisted that he had “never hurt anybody” and lashed out at the prosecutor, police and witnesses in the case, all of whom he said lied to obtain a conviction.

“You don’t care,” Clark said at one point, looking prosecutor Rick King in the eye. “You want me to die.”

Clark, who is African American, said that race played a part in his conviction on murder charges that he maintains were not proved in court.

“Let’s execute the black man,” Clark said. “No one cares. I’m a black man. You can do anything you want to do with me.”

At one point, King requested that Clark be sworn in so that the prosecutor could challenge the defendant’s comments in a cross-examination. But the judge denied the request and let Clark complete his statement uninterrupted.

Ryan then pointed out that, during Clark’s stinging remarks, he failed to mention any of the incriminating evidence against him.

In October, a jury found Clark guilty of planning the 1991 robbery of a Fountain Valley computer store. Kathy Lee, 49, was shot in the head during the holdup. Clark also was convicted of arranging the execution-style murder of Ardell Love Williams, 22, in 1994 after she agreed to testify against him.

Judge Ryan acknowledged Monday that Clark was disappointed and surprised by Lee’s murder.

“That’s the problem with a takeover robbery,” Ryan said. “It’s foreseeable that somebody’s going to get hurt.”

Of victim Williams, who had been a friend of Clark, the judge said, “She violated Mr. Clark’s code: Don’t snitch. And for that reason, she was murdered.”

Williams’ mother sobbed and slumped in her seat as an emotional video highlighting her daughter’s life played to a silent courtroom. She also shook her head in disgust a few times during Clark’s remarks.

Angie Williams, 61, has suffered through the murders of two of her nine daughters. In 1985, Tina Williams was found bludgeoned to death in Culver City in a crime that was never solved.

“They say time goes by and it’s easier,” Williams said Monday. “But no. It’s not.”

The victim’s older sister, Fay Williams Scott, said it was Tina Williams’ unsolved murder that led Ardell Williams to agree to testify against Clark. Scott said her sister wanted to help ease the grief of Kathy Lee’s family.

Lee, a secretary from Garden Grove, was killed when she arrived to pick up her teenage son from a computer store in Fountain Valley. She arrived just as the robbery was taking place.

Lee’s husband, Peter, said the death penalty for Clark “is certainly justified.”

“He’s not a nice person,” said Lee. “I’m just thankful that six years of murder trials are finally over.”