Finally back to the blog. Thanks to a couple of loyal readers for poking me to get back to it...
Richard Clark Continues
Can I see the logic of Richard Clark's mind? Not really...He has made four taped statements, two of them sharply differing accounts of the night of April 2, 1989. In between he has woven a tapestry of lies. Now he is being escorted back to his cell and he has a new revelation: After the "final" statement by Clark, which puts TC behind the RX7, shooting Noyers as Clark held her, he was led from the interrogation room to the OPD sally-port by Sergeant McKenna. On the way down McKenna was saying that they knew he wasn't being truthful. He told Clark that Sgt. Roth was Clark's only friend, and that once Richard was in that cell all bets were off. As they reached the sally-port Richard became very emotional. I'm trying to picture this. Calrk is six foot seven and must weigh 230 pounds at least. Now he's breaking down, sobbing like a baby and telling Sgt. McKenna that he is the gunman, the shooter. He killed Leslie Noyers. Sgt. McKenna takes him back up to the "blue room" to tape another version.
In this one Clark is sitting in the passenger side of the RX7. Stevens is in the driver's side. Two women approach the ca. Stevens tells Clark that they will be "gettin' busy" tonight, getting free sex from a couple of working girls. One girl is white, the other black. They both approach Stevens' side of the car. Stevens has already handed Clark a .38 caliber snub-nose revolver. Stevens tells the black girl to go over to Clark's side of the car. Both doors are opened. Stevens asks the white girl how much a blow job would be. She says about $50 for both. So now we have a girl on both sides of the car and Stevens pulls out the Desert Eagle, ordering the white girl to get down and do it. Clark takes the cue, doing the same with the black girl. They both go at it for a while, but according to Clark neither one of them has an orgasm for about 15 minutes or so, so Stevens tells the (white) girl to stand up. Clark does the same (with the black girl). The white girl starts getting pissed off at Stevens, yelling about "You motherfuckers ain't gonna rip us off!" TC says: "Handle it, Rich", and Richard gets out, crosses behind the car and hits Noyers a couple of times. Stevens tells him to get back in the car. When he does, Stevens hands him the Desert Eagle (!) and takes the .38 snub-nose from Clark.
Noyers is still mouthing off to Stevens, so he says: "Man, we got to kill these bitches." Clark is not too happy and says he won't do it. Stevens gets out of the car and stands in front of the left front tire, pointing the revolver at Clark, ordering him to shoot Noyers. Clark says no. Stevens raises his voice, getting a stern look in his eye. Clark fires at Noyers three times, knocking her to the ground. As she lays there moaning and writhing, Stevens orders him to finish her off. He fires two or three more times, closing his eyes as he does. Stevens steals her purse and the two of them run back to Stevens' apartment house, hiding out for a couple of hours before splitting up.
The investigators heard this version and taped it for posterity. Richard Clark went to his cell at 1AM, having confessed to the murder, under duress, of Leslie Noyers. The next day he gave something called an Aranda statement. This is a taped statement in which only the actions of the person speaking are documented. Any reference to a partner is discussed obliquely, referring to them as "my friend". Richard is told that, based on his statements, the DA's office has decided not to press charges in the case of Lori Rochon. However, because of what he's admitted to in the previous tape the DA is continuing its pursuit of a murder charge against him. Now he is asked to tape the Aranda statement. He asks if his cooperation will ensure lenient treatment and he is told nothing special will ne done. "We'll see about that later."
He then tapes the statement which reiterates the previous night's story. At the end he says that he couldn't sleep the night before, thinking about how that girl died, her moaning in agony. "She didn't have to die. It was just stupid." I heard it again. That same tone in his voice. I'm getting the idea that he he probably did shoot Leslie Noyers and is afraid of going to jail for so many years. His testimony in court has been confused, contradictory, and confusing. He speaks clearly about most other events, but when the subject of the incident on Chetwood comes up he gets mixed up and contradictory, like a kid who doesn't want to get into trouble.
Mr. Burr's questioning continues...
Aaaannnd we're back.
