WV Domestic Violence Killer (Update)

N&P: Discuss governments, nations, politics and recent related news here.

Moderators: Alyrium Denryle, Edi, K. A. Pital

Post Reply
User avatar
LadyTevar
White Mage
White Mage
Posts: 23542
Joined: 2003-02-12 10:59pm

WV Domestic Violence Killer (Update)

Post by LadyTevar »

This just turned my stomach, because they didn't stop him sooner. I've highlighted the worst of it.
Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail wrote:Shooting suspect on loose
Violence followed Charleston couple

Police launched a massive manhunt Saturday for a man they believe killed the mother of his child at a Taco Bell restaurant on Charleston's West Side. Desmond Demetrius Clark, 22, of Charleston was believed to be armed and dangerous, according to police.

Officers said Clark killed Nalisha Fiona Gravely, 20, after abducting her from North Charleston at about 2 p.m. Saturday. Clark shot Gravely while they were in the vehicle together, said Sgt. Aaron James of the Charleston Police Department.

Gravely escaped from Clark's vehicle on Patrick Street and ran inside the restaurant, where she asked to use a phone and then hid in a closet behind the counter. "She said, 'He's going to kill me.' She knew," said a Taco Bell employee, who asked not to be named.

The employee said a man entered the restaurant and jumped across the counter. The man said, "The bitch has my money," then fired six shots, he said. The employee said the man showed no remorse as he shot Gravely.

"He just rolled out like nothing happened. Like it was nothing. It was like she was just some stranger, like she was just some dog," the employee said. "Nobody deserves to die that way."

The employee said he tried to give Gravely CPR, but she was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Acting on a tip, police surrounded several houses near the intersection of 7th Avenue and Florida Street near the Emmanuel Baptist Church on the West Side. They believed Clark was inside. Police found Clark's maroon Chevrolet Tahoe nearby. A large crowd gathered as SWAT team members raided three houses at about 6 p.m., including a pale green house where police believed Clark was holed up. They did not find Clark inside, and continued to search for him.

"We just hope we find him soon," James said Saturday night. "We're going to be looking for him 24 hours a day until we do find him. He's an extremely violent individual."

By late Saturday, police were still looking for him. James said, "We are following up on everything that we have received so far."

At least seven times in the past four years, Clark has been accused of shooting, stabbing, beating or kidnapping Gravely, according to court records. Several times, he failed to show for court hearings, and once he escaped from home confinement. Apparently, he has served very little time in jail related to these charges.

Gravely's father watched from nearby as police raided a house in search of his daughter's boyfriend. He said he couldn't understand why Clark was free, after so many years of violence. "I never knew he was going to take my daughter and kill her," said Ricky Gravely. "It could have been prevented if he'd been arrested a long time ago. For some reason, he just kept working the system."

Ricky Gravely was baby-sitting the couple's 2-year-old when he last spoke with his daughter, an hour before Clark allegedly abducted her. "She said everything's all right, but you could tell in her voice, it wasn't," he said. Ricky Gravely also spoke with Clark several hours earlier. He said Clark told him he had been caught with marijuana in Dunbar and feared he was going to jail.

Gravely and Clark began dating when she was 16 years old and he was 18. They had been together over the past five years, despite the reported incidents of domestic violence.

In September 2004, Gravely accused Clark of domestic battery. He was arrested in November 2004, but it's not clear whether he served any time related to that charge.

In February 2005, Gravely accused Clark of breaking her nose. Charges were dismissed when an officer failed to show up at a hearing.

In October 2005, Gravely told police that Clark kicked her, dragged her by the hair and shoved her into a vehicle. He was charged with kidnapping, domestic battery and battery. The last two charges were dismissed. The kidnapping charge was waived to circuit court, but there is no record he was indicted.

On Jan. 10, 2007, Gravely told police that Clark choked her and pulled her out of her car on Park Avenue on the West Side. Police could not find Clark.

On Jan. 24, 2007, Clark allegedly found Gravely at a relative's house and forced his way in. When she refused to go with him, he fired a shot into the air, she said. He was charged with wanton endangerment and battery.

In early March 2007, he was placed on home confinement. A few days later, though, he cut off his tracking bracelet.

On April 8, 2007, according to a police report, Clark allegedly stabbed Gravely with a kitchen knife after they left a dance club together and returned to her apartment on West Washington Street. She stumbled to Washington Street and flagged down an officer, according to the police report. She was covered in blood. Clark eluded police again.

On May 9, 2007, Clark allegedly approached Gravely at the South Charleston Wal-Mart with his hands in his pockets. Gravely said she believed he had a gun. He allegedly grabbed her and pushed her into a car. Gravely told police that Clark took out a gun and shot her, grazing her leg. He spent several hours driving around, talking about their relationship. Clark said he didn't care if he lived or died, and that he would shoot police if they tried to apprehend him, according to her statement.

Later, Clark switched cars, and she escaped. Clark was arrested June 28, 2007, on one felony charge of unlawful malicious wounding and a misdemeanor charge of violating a home-confinement order. A hearing was scheduled for July 6, 2007. It is unclear what sentence Clark received.

A few months later, Clark was the victim of violence instead of the alleged perpetrator. On Dec. 8, Clark was shot in front of the American Legion on the West Side. Forty minutes later, another man, Andrew Smoot, 20, was shot and killed in his East End home - police say by two of Clark's associates in retaliation for his shooting.

At the time of this shooting, Clark had no outstanding warrants against him that police know about, according to Sgt. Aaron James of the Charleston Police.


Sue Julian said the news of Gravely's death struck her in the "heart and the stomach on this weekend when we are celebrating Independence Day."

Julian is a team coordinator of the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence. "Over and over again," she said, "unless batterers are held accountable by court officials the first time something happens, even if it does not look significant at the time, these situations build into a relentlessness."

Julian has worked to prevent domestic violence for more than 25 years. "As we know, the ultimate form of control is homicide."

Ricky Gravely said he hopes his daughter's death will cause police to pay more attention to domestic violence. "What can we do, besides bury our daughter and mourn her?" he said. "She was a very likable person, a happy person, but he was just her first love."
I wish that Smoot boy had better aim now. If he'd killed Clark back in December, Gravely would still be alive.
Last edited by LadyTevar on 2008-07-08 02:58pm, edited 1 time in total.
Image
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.

"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
User avatar
Havok
Miscreant
Posts: 13016
Joined: 2005-07-02 10:41pm
Location: Oakland CA
Contact:

Post by Havok »

This kinda bullshit... GAH! :evil:

I want to know why nobody stepped in earlier to help this girl? Perhaps that was what the Smoot shooting was about. Someone that decided to step up and defend her? Probably just another criminal that got "dissed" though.
Image
It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses.
Hit it.
Blank Yellow (NSFW)
"Mostly Harmless Nutcase"
User avatar
Darth Wong
Sith Lord
Sith Lord
Posts: 70028
Joined: 2002-07-03 12:25am
Location: Toronto, Canada
Contact:

Post by Darth Wong »

So this guy has tried to stab or shoot his girlfriend a half-dozen times while getting almost no jail time, while some guy in Texas gets four thousand years for having sex with underage teenaged girls?
Image
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing

"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC

"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness

"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Mike/RantMode/Blurbs.html
User avatar
Havok
Miscreant
Posts: 13016
Joined: 2005-07-02 10:41pm
Location: Oakland CA
Contact:

Post by Havok »

Darth Wong wrote:So this guy has tried to stab or shoot his girlfriend a half-dozen times while getting almost no jail time, while some guy in Texas gets four thousand years for having sex with underage teenaged girls?
C'mon Mike. When are you moving south of the border. It's fucking GREAT down here. :roll:
Image
It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses.
Hit it.
Blank Yellow (NSFW)
"Mostly Harmless Nutcase"
User avatar
Enigma
is a laughing fool.
Posts: 7777
Joined: 2003-04-30 10:24pm
Location: c nnyhjdyt yr 45

Post by Enigma »

I'm dreading my interview even more. *curls up into a fetal position*
ASVS('97)/SDN('03)

"Whilst human alchemists refer to the combustion triangle, some of their orcish counterparts see it as more of a hexagon: heat, fuel, air, laughter, screaming, fun." Dawn of the Dragons

ASSCRAVATS!
User avatar
Broomstick
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 28846
Joined: 2004-01-02 07:04pm
Location: Industrial armpit of the US Midwest

Post by Broomstick »

All too many people still have an attitude that men own "their" women, and many do not want to get involved in "private" disputes between members of a couple.

That said, this asshole should have been slammed in jail years ago.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. Leonard Nimoy.

Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy

Sam Vimes Theory of Economic Injustice
User avatar
LadyTevar
White Mage
White Mage
Posts: 23542
Joined: 2003-02-12 10:59pm

Post by LadyTevar »

Well... someone spoke up:
Sunday Gazette-Mail wrote:UPDATE:
Charleston police arrest shooting suspect
Charleston police have arrested Desmond Demetrius Clark, the man who allegedly shot and killed a woman Saturday at a West Side restaurant.
By Staff reports

Charleston police have arrested Desmond Demetrius Clark, the man who allegedly shot and killed a woman Saturday at a West Side restaurant.

Acting on an anonymous tip, police arrested Clark at a home on Woodland Drive at about 12:40 a.m., said Sgt. Aaron James, assistant chief of detectives.

Police said Clark, 22, shot Nalisha Fiona Gravely, 20, in his vehicle after abducting her from North Charleston at about 2 p.m. Saturday. Gravely escaped from Clark's vehicle on Patrick Street and ran into a Taco Bell restaurant, where she asked to use a phone and hid. Clark allegedly followed her inside and fired six more shots. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Finally, they can put this guy behind bars. Maybe there he'll get a little of what he deserves for all the years of abuse.
Image
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.

"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
User avatar
LadyTevar
White Mage
White Mage
Posts: 23542
Joined: 2003-02-12 10:59pm

Post by LadyTevar »

havokeff wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:So this guy has tried to stab or shoot his girlfriend a half-dozen times while getting almost no jail time, while some guy in Texas gets four thousand years for having sex with underage teenaged girls?
C'mon Mike. When are you moving south of the border. It's fucking GREAT down here. :roll:
When someone can cut his home-confinement anklet off and NOT be caught for over a month, someone in the police station isn't doing their job. What is worse, someone or someones in that neighborhood knew where Clark was, and never told the police where to find him.

I wonder, if Gravely had only been wounded (again!) would that anonymous tipster have given Clark up, or was her death just that bit too much for that person's comfort and they couldn't hide him anymore.
Image
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.

"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
User avatar
Darth Wong
Sith Lord
Sith Lord
Posts: 70028
Joined: 2002-07-03 12:25am
Location: Toronto, Canada
Contact:

Post by Darth Wong »

Even so, home confinement is a joke of a sentence for a guy with a history of violent crime and attempts on another person's life.
Image
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing

"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC

"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness

"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Mike/RantMode/Blurbs.html
User avatar
LadyTevar
White Mage
White Mage
Posts: 23542
Joined: 2003-02-12 10:59pm

Post by LadyTevar »

Darth Wong wrote:Even so, home confinement is a joke of a sentence for a guy with a history of violent crime and attempts on another person's life.
I have to agree with you there.
Image
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.

"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
User avatar
Singular Intellect
Jedi Council Member
Posts: 2392
Joined: 2006-09-19 03:12pm
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Post by Singular Intellect »

It's too bad this guy isn't a dangerous dog that viciously attacked the woman in question...he would be killed with little fanfare or complaint.

Unfortunately, he's a much more dangerous animal with significantly greater intelligence and the ability to use human resources to stalk and abuse a victim. For that, we've confined him to the comforts of his own home, or at worst give him free room and board for a very long time.
User avatar
The Yosemite Bear
Mostly Harmless Nutcase (Requiescat in Pace)
Posts: 35211
Joined: 2002-07-21 02:38am
Location: Dave's Not Here Man

Post by The Yosemite Bear »

dammit why can some states actually punish domestic violence like the crime it is?

yeah, get tough on youths with skateboards, potsmokers, etc. Someone beats or rapes his SO we do nothink....
Image

The scariest folk song lyrics are "My Boy Grew up to be just like me" from cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin
User avatar
Death from the Sea
Sith Devotee
Posts: 3376
Joined: 2002-10-30 05:32pm
Location: TEXAS
Contact:

Post by Death from the Sea »

Does anyone know if in WV the law allows the state to pursue charges if the victim says that they don't want to or refuses to cooperate?

In Texas the state can press assault charges for the victim if they are a victim of domestic violence. Because you would be surprised how many victim's refuse to press charges on their "loved ones" who just tried to kill them or kicked their ass.

If the state cannot, then I can easily see how this progressed and happened.
"War.... it's faaaaaantastic!" <--- Hot Shots:Part Duex
"Psychos don't explode when sunlight hits them, I don't care how fucking crazy they are!"~ Seth from Dusk Till Dawn
|BotM|Justice League's Lethal Protector
User avatar
The Yosemite Bear
Mostly Harmless Nutcase (Requiescat in Pace)
Posts: 35211
Joined: 2002-07-21 02:38am
Location: Dave's Not Here Man

Post by The Yosemite Bear »

Yeah, CA does too, however it still gets ignored a lot. too much patriarchy, combined with "Stockholm Syndrome"
Image

The scariest folk song lyrics are "My Boy Grew up to be just like me" from cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin
User avatar
LadyTevar
White Mage
White Mage
Posts: 23542
Joined: 2003-02-12 10:59pm

Post by LadyTevar »

And now the fingerpointing starts:
Charleston Gazette wrote:July 8, 2008
Despite Clark's violent history System failed to keep suspect off the streets

A Charleston man accused of killing the mother of his 2-year-old son was charged at least 17 times in four years for often violent offenses tied to domestic battery, drugs, wanton endangerment, burglary and weapons.

Whenever police arrested Desmond Clark in the last year and a half, they called in the SWAT team to do so, said Sgt. S.A. Cooper, chief detective for Charleston police.

"He frequently came across as being unfazed any time he was arrested or facing serious charges," Cooper said. "He threatened to shoot police last year when he kidnapped his girlfriend."

Since 2004, Nalisha Fiona Gravely had said that Clark broke her nose, kicked her, dragged her by her hair, kidnapped her, choked her, stabbed her with a kitchen knife and grazed her in the leg with a bullet.

The most recent domestic battery charge stemmed from a May 17 incident, where Clark allegedly punched his ex-girlfriend in the stomach at a house on Red Oak Street in Charleston. A hearing in that case was set for July 14, according to magistrate court records.

Charleston police say Clark, 22, killed Gravely, 19, at a Taco Bell on Patrick Street on Charleston's West Side. Clark allegedly shot her while they were in a car together, after he abducted her from a North Charleston house around 2 p.m. Saturday.

Gravely ran inside the Taco Bell, where she asked to use a phone, and then jumped across the counter to hide in a closet. Police say Clark followed across the counter, found Gravely in the closet and shot her six times.

Clark was not supposed to have a gun for many reasons. He was a convicted felon after a plea to possession with intent to distribute marijuana. He had also pleaded guilty to domestic battery, which also barred him from having a firearm.

Also, Kanawha Family Court Judge Mark Snyder issued a domestic violence protective order against Clark on May 28, eight days after Gravely filed a domestic violence petition against him.

According to Snyder's order, Clark was to have no contact with Gravely until Aug. 28, a few days after she would have turned 20.

Court records indicate that Clark filed a domestic violence petition against Gravely on Oct. 9, 2007, but a family court judge did not issue a final protective order.


On Jan. 22, Kanawha Circuit Judge James C. Stucky placed Clark on two years' probation. Clark had pleaded guilty to counts of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, battery and domestic battery.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed charges of breaking and entering, entering without breaking, brandishing and two other counts of domestic battery.

Stucky's order noted that Clark was "not likely again to commit crime and that the public good does not require that he be fined or imprisoned," which is stock language generally included every time a circuit judge places someone on probation.

At the time, Clark was recovering from a gunshot wound he received outside of the American Legion Bar on the West Side in December 2007.

Forty minutes after Clark was shot, 20-year-old Andrew Smoot was shot and killed in his East End home. Police said two of Clark's associates killed Smoot in retaliation for his shooting.

In the past two years, other drug and gun charges against Clark were dropped, according to magistrate court records. Those charges were dropped because police officers didn't show up at Clark's hearings.

Cooper said he doesn't know why the officers missed the court hearings. "We have a pretty strict adherence to making court hearings, but they do get missed," he said. "I don't know if there is a reasonable explanation or not. We aggressively pursued him every time we dealt with him. ... It's possible the officer was on midnight shift and missed a 10 a.m. hearing."

Even if charges are dropped in magistrate court, prosecutors can still seek an indictment from a circuit court grand jury.

Clark was also arrested twice in January 2007. The first time, he choked Gravely during an argument, according to court records. He was charged with domestic battery and released on a personal recognizance bond.

Two weeks later, Clark allegedly forced Gravely out of her grandmother's home and into his car. The grandmother said Clark pushed her down, and said she saw Clark pull out a gun and shoot it into the air.

He was charged with two counts of wanton endangerment and two counts of burglary. In March 2007, he was placed on home confinement.

A few days later, he cut off his tracking bracelet. He was charged with escape.

In October 2007, Stucky removed Clark from home confinement after Clark's attorney, Rico Moore, argued that the electronic monitoring device was a financial burden on Clark's family and that Clark had an opportunity for employment and needed to support his 2-year-old son, according to court records.

Clark was to be employed as a security guard at Nappy by Nature on Washington Street West, according to a letter supporting the motion written by owner Tina Beatty.

Moore also argued that Clark wanted to attend classes, and that he had been on bond since July 2007 without incident.

Gravely and Clark began dating when she was 16 years old and he was 18.

"There's a lot of teenage girls out that that get infatuated with these young men and with the lifestyle," said the Rev. Lloyd Hill, pastor of Liberty Baptist Church on the East End. "They are in it for love, and unfortunately these young men aren't in it for that. They get trapped."

Hill said he is certain there are a lot of young women in similar situations. "I would just encourage these young ladies to tell someone. Let someone know," he said. "This is an example of how extreme it can get if you don't."

Men who commit violent crimes against women manipulate those women, Cooper said. Women often don't show up for court dates after husbands or boyfriends beat them up. That happened in this case, Cooper said.

Detectives followed through with the domestic violence cases against Clark and were aggressive in pursuing charges against him, Cooper said.

"She was a young girl that appears to have been manipulated and intimidated by this individual, which makes prosecution extremely difficult," Cooper said. "We can make an arrest very easily if we have probable cause. ... At the end of the day, when all of his constitutional rights had to be met in a court of law, some of the pieces just weren't there.

"In my dealings with him, he has always seemed to feel he is above the law, as if police presence and occasions where police arrested him didn't really faze him," Cooper said. "In my position, I deal with the most violent offenders in the area. And some seem [undeterred] at times as far as committing violence. He has struck me as one of those individuals."
WHY THE FUCK WAS HE STILL ON THE STREETS?!
Image
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.

"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
User avatar
Darth Wong
Sith Lord
Sith Lord
Posts: 70028
Joined: 2002-07-03 12:25am
Location: Toronto, Canada
Contact:

Post by Darth Wong »

LadyTevar wrote:WHY THE FUCK WAS HE STILL ON THE STREETS?!
Because they have to make room in jail for men who use marijuana or women who trade sex for money?
Image
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing

"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC

"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness

"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Mike/RantMode/Blurbs.html
User avatar
LadyTevar
White Mage
White Mage
Posts: 23542
Joined: 2003-02-12 10:59pm

Post by LadyTevar »

Two news clippings to share, so you can see the BullShit.

Charleston Gazette wrote:Leniency had been sought for Clark, now a murder suspect
2 magistrates say police got information from Clark


CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Two Kanawha County magistrates say police asked for leniency when setting bond on Desmond Demetrius Clark because he was providing information to police.

There are different levels of informant, not all are paid, according to several magistrates who agreed to talk for this story on the condition of anonymity because the judicial code of ethics forbids them from talking about cases.

"They [the police] never tell you he is paid. You never know if they are paid or not. They never say they are paying [someone] to be an informant," a magistrate said. "Usually, the informants I know don't get paid."

Clark is charged with killing the mother of his child, Na'lisha Fiona Gravely, at a Taco Bell on Charleston's West Side on Saturday.

Six of 10 Kanawha County magistrates were interviewed for this story. In addition to the two who confirmed that police asked for leniency for Clark, two others confirmed that police asked for leniency on other offenders besides Clark.

A fifth magistrate would say only that Clark had never been in their courtroom. The sixth magistrate said unequivocally that police never asked for leniency for Clark.

As for other cases, officers often will tell the magistrates whether the person cooperated or not, but that's as far as it goes, the magistrate said.

"I have never had an officer PR someone if they have done violence," the magistrate said. "If it's nonviolent, simple possession, they might ask." (Defendants who receive personal recognizance, or PR, bonds don't have to put up bail immediately to avoid being held in jail.)

Another magistrate agreed that police don't tell magistrates whether someone is a paid informant when they ask for leniency. There is a distinction, according to the magistrate, between informants that are paid informants for police and those that may just provide a little information.

Paid informants are credible enough to be used in court cases, wear a wire or buy drugs for police. But there are others who give useful information to police who are not paid. They can give police good information, but they wouldn't be used in a court case, often because of their long criminal histories.

"Generally, those CIs, confidential informants, are people who have been charged previously. Some are concerned citizens," the magistrate said. "Then they always have people on the street. Officers cultivate that. They give information but are not used for search warrants, but just as information gatherers."

Sgt. S.A. Cooper, chief detective for the Charleston Police Department, said Tuesday that Clark was not a confidential informant for the department's criminal investigation division. Lt. C.A. Carpenter, head of the Metro Drug Unit, said Clark wasn't an informant for his agency.

"There is nothing to suggest [Clark] was working as a CI for any law enforcement agency, state, local or federal," at least in the drug arena, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Frail said this week.

"That includes all the law enforcement agencies from Parkersburg south," said Frail, who oversees federal drug cases in the Southern District of West Virginia.

On Wednesday, Charleston Mayor Danny Jones held a news conference to say that Clark was not a paid criminal informant for police in Kanawha County.

"Desmond Clark was not, was never a sanctioned, paid, continuous, any kind of informant for the Charleston Police Department or any law enforcement agency that I am aware of in this area," Jones said.

The distinction between paid CIs and people who provide information rarely, if ever, makes it to the ears of magistrates, the magistrate said.

Police will tell magistrates that someone is giving good information and ask that to be taken into consideration for bail, the magistrate said.

"I've also had police say the opposite. 'Give this guy a higher bond.' It goes both ways," the magistrate said.

Police will tell magistrates they know where someone is staying and that they can be picked up easily and that they will show up for court, according to the magistrate.

"That's a different world from what we're talking about with confidential informants," the magistrate said. "Even this guy that gets drilled on a lot of these things may be informational on other things."

Police ask on a regular basis for a low bail or a personal recognizance bond in cases where a defendant is working with them, a different magistrate said.

"Either it's a confidential informant or they're going to turn state's evidence or roll over on somebody," the magistrate said.

One magistrate said they make a mark on the paper, which they alone recognize, when police ask for leniency on an offender. Cutting deals to those who provide information for police is a part of the system, the magistrate said.

"It happens when police arrest someone. He's going to be an informant for [the officer]. That's police work. I've never done it with a violent charge. Nine times out of 10, you can read the complaints and tell whether this is a violent domestic," the magistrate said.

"There are some that are just pushing, grabbing by the arm, something like that. And there are some where it is pretty graphic. A cut down the eye, busted lip. You go from there. I can't remember any of the officers asking me to go easy on anything violent."

One magistrate scrolled through the list of Clark's offenses on a computer. The magistrate said police do ask for leniency, but that had never happened with Clark in their courtroom.

The magistrate said there were only a few of Clark's cases where it looked like police might have asked for leniency.

The magistrate said they go through a person's file case by case when police ask for leniency.

"I look at what he's been charged with," the magistrate said. "They'll say, 'He's been cooperative. I wouldn't be upset if you set a ... PR bond.'"

That sometimes translates into police having a new informant, the magistrate said.

One of the two magistrates who say police asked for leniency on Clark considered what might have been going through Gravely's mind if she knew Clark was working with police.

"She's probably thinking, 'Hey, you know, if he's working for the police, what happens?' ... If he ever said to her, 'Look I work for police. You file what you want to. I'll be out of jail.' What could she do?" the magistrate asked.

Looking back on releasing Clark, the magistrate said, "It's such a common practice. We don't know what they're doing in their investigation. If someone is going to help, if they're going to help police some, you do it. Looking back on any of them, it's should you do it or not. ... And if they don't have a violent background, you do it for defendants as well as for the police. If they ask you to help out, you do what you can."
Charleston Gazette wrote:Criminal record of Desmond Clark

This is a compilation of the criminal background of Desmond D. Clark, who is accused of shooting Na'lisha Gravley to death on July 5 in Charleston. The numbers included in each entry are the case numbers assigned by the court.

9/27/2004

04M-10894

Domestic Battery

Issuing Magistrate: Halloran

Assigned Magistrate: Yeager

Bond Amount: $50 cash of the $500 bail, paid by the defendant

Criminal complaint: According to the victim's mother and a Kanawha County school teacher, Clark punched 16-year-old Na'lisha Gravely, who was five months pregnant, in the face with his fist.

2/12/2005

05M-1786

Domestic Battery

Issuing Magistrate: Crouch

Assigned Magistrate: Yeager

Bond amount: $1,000 personal recognizance

Criminal complaint: Clark struck Na'lisha Gravely, 16, in the nose with his fist, causing it to bleed.

4/13/2005

05-F-820

Malicious wounding

Magistrate: McGinnis

Clark dragged Na'lisha Gravely into a vehicle and kicked her in the ribs, hit her in the head with a handgun, causing two lacerations about an inch long.

Bond Amount: $12,500 or 10 percent cash and surety bond

4/22/2005

05-F-820

05-M-4062

Bond release

Magistrate: Yeager

Surety: Dawn Walker, $1,000

6/18/2005

05M-6677

Domestic Battery

Issuing Magistrate: Aaron

Assigned Magistrate: Yeager

Bond Amount: $5,000 surety

Surety: Nancy Zeigler, Charleston

Criminal Complaint: Clark choked and slammed Na'lisha Gravely to the ground, threatening to kill her.

8/11/2005

04M-10894

Capias order/Motion to revoke bond

Magistrate: Yeager

Clark failed to answer or appear on charges of domestic battery. Magistrate recommended that no bail be set.

10/23/2005

05M-11462

05M-11463

05F-2394

Domestic Battery

Battery

Kidnapping

Issuing Magistrate: Crouch

Assigned Magistrate: Yeager

Bond Amount: $5,000

Surety: Valeria Lawrence, Hurricane

Criminal complaint: Clark did drag Na'lisha Gravely by her hair and shove her into his vehicle against her will.

10/28/2005

04M-10894

05M-6677

05M-1786

Capias order

Magistrate: Yeager

Clark failed to answer or appear on three counts of domestic battery. Magistrate recommended that bail be set at $1,000 cash.

11/15/2005

04M-10894

05M-1286

05M-2394

05M-6677

05M-11462

05M-11463

Criminal Bail Agreement

Kidnapping, Battery and Domestic Battery x 4

Magistrate: Fouty

Bail Amount: $1,000 cash/$75,000 surety

Surety: Valeria Lawrence, Hurricane

6/12/2006

06M-6901

Carrying a dangerous weapon

Issuing Magistrate: McGinnis

Assigned Magistrate: Yeager/Crouch

Bond Amount: $300 cash on $3,000 bail

Surety: James Johnson

12/14/2006

06M-6901

Carrying a dangerous weapon

Dismissed, no officer

1/4/2007

07F-26

Possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance

Issuing Magistrate: Harshbarger

Assigned Magistrate: Halloran

Bond amount: $25,000 or 10 percent

Surety: Valeria Lawrence, Charleston

Committed 1/4//2007, Released 2/4/2007

Criminal complaint: Clark was found during a traffic stop with 2 ounces of marijuana in the vehicle underneath the back seat. Also found 90 grams in the back seat.

1/10/2007

07-M-425

Domestic Battery

Issuing Magistrate: Halloran

Assigned Magistrate: Yeager/Aaron

Bond Amount: $1,000

Criminal Complaint: Clark choked Na'lisha Gravely causing redness and swelling around her neck, during an argument.

1/16/2007

07F-26

Possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance

Magistrate: Halloran

Dismissed, no officer

1/24/2007

07F-197

07F-198

07F-199

07F-200

Wanton endangerment x 2

Burglary x 2

Issuing Magistrate: Halloran

Bond Amount: $1,000 cash

Criminal Complaint: Clark entered a residence and told Na'lisha Gravely to come with him. Pushed Barbara Bowers, Gravely's grandmother. Forced Gravely into a vehicle and fired a pistol into the air.

1/26/2007

07-M-245

Capias order/Motion to Revoke Bond

Magistrate: Yeager

Clark violated his bond by not fulfilling agreement to abide by state and federal law, on 1/24/2007

2/1/2007

07-M-425

Capias order

Magistrate: Yeager

Clark violated his bond on 1/24/2007

2/8/2007

07-M-425

Motion to Revoke Bond

Magistrate: Yeager

Bond changed to 10,000 surety or 10 percent cash

2/16/07

Criminal Bail

Surety: Valeria Lawrence, Charleston, $1,000 cash

2/18/2007

Order of Home Confinement bond

Magistrate: Yeager

State: Teresa Tarr

Clark placed on electronic home confinement, suspended the bond violation, until further order in the case, on $10,000 surety or 10 percent cash bond to be posted. State objected to bond amount.

3/9/2007

07M-8710

Escape

Issuing Magistrate: Shelton

Assigned Magistrate: Aaron

Clark removed his home confinement transmitter and then absconded without making contact with Kanawha County Home Confinement

4/8/2007

07F-776

Malicious Wounding

Issuing Magistrate: Shelton

Assigned Magistrate: Aaron

Na'lisha Gravely had been in a verbal altercation with Clark and he grabbed her by the neck and put her to the ground, then stabbed her in the arm with a kitchen knife.

5/25/2007

05-F-2394

05-B-243

05-F-820

05-CR-M-449

Charges dismissed

Judge King

Dismissal after a delay of more than one year in presenting the charges to a grand jury or in filing an information against the defendant.

5/29/2007

07-F-188

07-M-39

Indictment

Judge: Stucky

Indicted by the grand jury.

6/7/2007

07-F-188

07-M-39

Capias order

Judge: Stucky

Bond amount: $50,000 surety

Surety: William O. and Brenda S. Harris, $36,240, property, Malden district

Clark failed to appear for an arraignment hearing on June 7.

7/6/2007

07M-8974

Battery

Issuing Magistrate: Shelton

Assigned Magistrate: Aaron

Criminal Complaint: Clark did not want to return to his section at South Central Regional Jail. Clark tried to slam the correctional officer to the floor by picking him up.

7/12/2007

07-F-188

07-M-39

Arraignment

Judge: Stucky

Entered a plea of not guilty and bond set at $50,000 surety with conditions of home confinement.

10/15/2007

07-F-188

07-M-39

Bond modification granted

Judge: Stucky

Clark free on $50,000 property bond under condition of house arrest.

Requested to be removed from house arrest or have bond modified to allow for employment and educational purposes.

1/22/2008

07-F-188

07-M-39

Guilty plea

Judge: Stuckey

State: Laura Young, assistant prosecuting attorney

Pleaded guilty to felony Possession With Intent to Deliver a Controlled Substance: marijuana (count 1 of 07-F-188)

Pleaded guilty to misdemeanor Discharging a Firearm Within 500 Feet of a Dwelling, Battery and Domestic Battery (count 5, 6, 8 of 07-M-39)

3/4/2008

07-F-188

07-M-39

Sentence suspended

Judge: Stucky

Placed on probation for two years, effective March 4, 2008

5/16/2008

08M-7079

08M-7080

08M-7081

No Operators

No Proof of Insurance

Leaving the Scene

Issuing Magistrate: Crouch

Assigned Magistrate: Aaron

Bond Amount: $1,000 PR

Criminal Complaint: Clark was operating a vehicle with no operator's permit or proof of insurance when he was involved in an accident at the intersection of Washington Street and Hunt Avenue. Clark left the accident and was stopped at the intersection of Hunt Avenue and Orchard Street.

5/17/2008

08M-7462

Domestic Battery

Issuing magistrate: Yeager

Criminal complaint: Clark struck the victim in the stomach area with a closed fist on Red Oak Street in Charleston.

7/5/2008

08F-02229

Issuing Magistrate: Carper-Strickland

Criminal Complaint: Clark followed his girlfriend Na'lisha Gravely into the Taco Bell on Third Avenue. He found gravely hiding in a closet and shot her several times, resulting in her death.
Image
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.

"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
User avatar
The Yosemite Bear
Mostly Harmless Nutcase (Requiescat in Pace)
Posts: 35211
Joined: 2002-07-21 02:38am
Location: Dave's Not Here Man

Post by The Yosemite Bear »

Ok, Judge Magistrate Yeager is looking to be in a lot of trouble soon.
Image

The scariest folk song lyrics are "My Boy Grew up to be just like me" from cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin
User avatar
Solauren
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 10424
Joined: 2003-05-11 09:41pm

Post by Solauren »

This is EXACTLY why I believe that anyone charged with a physically (or deliberately psychologically) violent crime against someone they know are are associated with should not be granted bail. Because alot of the time, they just don't care.

Of if it's there second violent offense period.
Post Reply