2nd Jury Asked to Set Penalty in 2 Murders

A second jury is being asked to decide whether William Clinton Clark should be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison for his role in the murders of two women.

One victim, 49-year-old Kathy Lee, was killed when she interrupted a computer store robbery masterminded by Clark in 1991. Three years later, 22-year-old Ardell Love Williams was shot in the head execution-style after agreeing to testify against Clark.

The jury won’t have to judge Clark’s guilt or innocence; he was convicted by another panel last year. But jurors are left to decide his punishment, because the first jury couldn’t agree on one.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Rick King said death is the only appropriate punishment for Clark, 49, whom he portrayed as a smart man willing to go to great lengths to escape conviction.

“Through his intellect, his brightness and planning of these two crimes . . . he’s impacted the lives of two families that will never be the same,” King said.

Defense attorney Rob Harley, who will try to save Clark’s life, contends that some witnesses committed perjury, including law enforcement officers.

Although Clark was not accused of pulling the trigger in the killings, he was found equally responsible for murder because of his roles in planning the crimes.

His 1996 trial was the first in recent Orange County history involving someone charged with killing a witness, and he could become the first person in the county to receive the death penalty without having physically killed his victims.

The crimes are so complicated that jurors were given handouts with charts and chronologies on Monday.

The triggerman in the computer store robbery and Clark’s younger brother both are serving life sentences without parole for Lee’s murder. Clark’s girlfriend, Antoinette Yancey, was convicted of murder last year and sentenced to life without parole in the second slaying.