Homeless man convicted of murder and robbery
A homeless man was convicted yesterday of first-degree murder for fatally beating another homeless man near an Anne Arundel County shelter and robbing him of $500 that a relative had just given him.
Allan Jake Clark, 23, faces up to life in prison for killing Michael Walter Evans Sr., whose body was found April 5 on an outside air-conditionin
Key to Clark's conviction, said prosecutors and at least one juror, was the testimony of John Logue, another homeless man who said that Clark confessed to him that he had gotten into a fight with Evans, repeatedly struck him, then stole money from his wallet.
Circuit Judge Paul A. Harris denied a motion for a mistrial yesterday after one of the jurors admitted consulting an online dictionary for the definition of terms such as rigor mortis. Harris said the actions were "a clear violation of my instructions," but that the jury was not tainted, and that the actions did not demonstrate prejudice against Clark.
"When you have to rely on a statement by a single witness, who himself has so many issues, in order to find a defendant guilty, I don't know how you don't have reasonable doubt," said defense attorney Karl H. Gordon.
He plans to appeal the verdict, based on possible juror misconduct as well as what he considered a discrepancy in the medical examiner's testimony that "extended the injury time preceding death to 48 hours" from an earlier statement of 36 hours.
"He went from saying the injuries were old, to saying he couldn't say how old they were," Gordon said in an interview after the verdict. "We were just trying to get the medical examiner to give an honest accounting of the timeline."
Assistant State's Attorneys Mark Tyler and Frank Ragione, who prosecuted the case, said they were satisfied that the family of Evans, who was 54, had received justice.
"[John Logue] is to be commended for stepping forward and sharing what he knew," Tyler said in an interview after the verdict. "We are quite pleased that the jury found that our evidence was sufficient to convict."
Alfred Schuler, 67, of Edgewater, the juror who consulted the dictionary, added: "The state had very credible witnesses. John Logue's testimony was very strong, very consistent with what he told the police, what he had told people working at the Arundel House of Hope. It was very clear that he didn't fall from some height to get on that air-conditionin
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Michael Evans Sr. lived on the streets and died on the streets from a beating that left him with 15 broken ribs, internal bleeding in his brain and a lacerated kidney last year.
On Tuesday, the 23-year-old homeless man who beat him to death will likely not see the streets for a long time.
An Anne Arundel County jury found Allan Clark guilty of first-and second-degree felony murder in commission of a robbery in the death of Evans.
He is facing life in prison at his sentencing, which is scheduled for June 2.
During the weeklong trial, testimony indicated that Clark brutally attacked Evans after finding him in his sleeping spot on April 3 at a homeless camp in the old Ernie Swanson Oldsmobile dealership at 7336 Ritchie Highway.
Assistant State’s Attorney Mark Tyler said the verdict was justified because “the circumstances of the beating in this case were quite severe.”
The two homeless men lived in Glen Burnie, and when Evans was loaned $500 in cash from his brother, Clark had to have it to buy drugs, prosecutors said.
Clark used Evans’ cash to buy cocaine, breakfast at the Honeybee Diner and a cab ride from Glen Burnie to Brooklyn, where he bought more drugs, prosecutors said during closing arguments Monday in Anne Arundel Circuit Court.
Evans’ dead body was found about 6:30 a.m. April 5 on an air conditioning unit partially covered by a blanket, outside the Arundel House of Hope’s Resource and Day Center, a Glen Burnie homeless shelter the men frequented on Crain Highway.
Clark’s friend John Logue testified as the state’s key witness that Clark told him April 3 and again four days later that he beat up “an old guy” and stole his money.
Defense attorneys discredited Logue’s testimony as “the ramblings of a jealous man” because his ex-girlfriend liked Clark.
And the state medical examiner determined Evans’ body had only been dead a few hours when it was found, which contradicts Logue’s testimony that Clark admitted to the killing days earlier.
cpeirce@baltimo
