Homeless Man Convicted Of Car Break-In At Campus Lot

FAYETTEVILLE -- Kirk Allen Clark, a homeless man caught rummaging through a car in a University of Arkansas parking lot, was found guilty of breaking or entering Monday in Washington County. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

"He did it right in front of a U of A police officer, he didn't have a chance to take anything because the officer caught him red-handed," David Bercaw, deputy prosecutor, told jurors. "He didn't have any reason to be in that vehicle other than to find something to steal. He didn't know what he was gonna steal, but he was gonna steal something if there was anything in there."

Clark, 52,was arrested Nov. 29 in Lot 56, at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Razorback Road. Police had the area under surveillance because there had been a number of break-ins and thefts from cars in the lot. Sgt. Benjamin Velasco, with the University of Arkansas Police Department, was sitting in an unmarked vehicle about 40 feet away when Clark got off a transit bus, and walked to a nearby Jeep. Velasco said he watched as Clark opened the vehicle's door went through the console and glovebox. Velasco arrested Clark before anything was stolen.

Clark claimed another homeless man he knew only as "Crazy Horse Bill" had earlier asked him to retrieve a phone the man had left in a black Jeep in Lot 56.

"I got off the bus and went to the row he said, and a Jeep was there just like he said," Clark told the jury. "I did not steal nothing, I'm no thief. Stealing is not one of my deals."

Clark said Crazy Horse Bill was not available to back up his story because the man committed suicide a couple weeks ago.

Clark, a habitual offender, also was found guilty of failure to appear for trial in March and sentenced to three years in prison, to run concurrently. Courthouse video showed Clark trying to get on an elevator as potential jurors, called to hear his case, were filing out.

Clark said he was late for court because he had gone to Winslow to shower at a friend's house and got his truck stuck in snow and ice. Clark arrived at the courthouse about 9:05 a.m., but was supposed to have been there at 8:30 a.m. A bailiff called the case and when Clark was not there, the jury was sent home.

Bercaw told jurors Clark concocted a story for every situation and things were never his fault.

NW News on 06/10/2014

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