May 17, 2020

Part one

by Ronald W. Clark, Jr (author's profile)

Transcription

[Page 1]

Date: 5/4/2020 10:54:47 AM
PART ONE, PAGE 2
We change clothes at a gas station and washed up. We then got back on I 75 and started heading south again. We cross the Florida, Georgia state line, and catch I 10 headed east, where we pick up a hitchhiker, who's heading to Daytona. David tells him we will give him a ride down there. We first stop at a gas station/convenient store where the hitchhiker picks up money, from Western Union. Once this is completed we get back on I 10 where we enter into Jacksonville. David tells the hitchhiker we're going to Jackie's seafood to eat, before heading down to Daytona. Once in Jackie's we order, we're drinking a beer. David kicks me under the table signaling me to go to the bathroom, we go and David says let's get out of here. So we exited out the back door, leaving this guy with about a $100 worth of food to pay for. We get back into the truck, and start heading back up US 17 and into the Ocean way area. We are heading right back into the scene of the crime. We went and seen I girl that I knew. I got mad and as we were leaving I punched the dashboard which sliced my knuckles wide open. We went riding around in the ocean way area. We a re 145 Castleberry Road when David locks the breaks up skidding to a stop after seeing a guy name Joseph Lee Strickland, who he knew from their school days. David begins a conversation with him and is bragging to Strickland about "HIS TRUCK" yes a dead man's truck! He asked Strickland if he wanted to buy it for $800.00. Hatch then pulls out the gun that he's in possession of, and shows it to Strickland and his half brother Thomas Edgar Coon. They shoot the gun out back behind the trailer. David asked Strickland if he knew where to buy some marijuana. He stated he did. David and I gave Strickland the money to go buy a half ounce. When he returned with they weed, David and I was talking to him about a place to rent. Strickland mentioned that he knew a woman at the Oasis efficiency housing next to the Lil'Champ store on US 17 and Pecan park road, that had a room for rent/ We get in the truck and drive down there. Strickland leaves his two year old son in the truck with a loaded gun. David placed the gun under the seat of the truck, and was calling out "Where is Ronald?" That's my name, so I stepped out there and said, "I'm here." They said no the owner of the truck. I turned and went back in, and told David their looking for the owner of the truck. Strickland seen David panicking so he's trying to leave, to get his son out of the truck. David is trying to stop Strickland from going out, but he gets by him. David and I go out a back window, and take off running. We get behind the Lil'Champ store, when David says, "we've got to go back and get the gun, it'll lead back to me." So we run back, unbeknownst to me, David stopped beside that small apt. I go to open the door of the truck, and it's locked. The one woman is talking to me, she's got the truck keys in her hand. I try to get the keys. I'm pulling at the keys, she's pulling back. She kicks me between the legs several times. I'm not feeling it. I'm so doped up on pills. I could have knocked her out with one punch. But I will not hit a woman. Finally I gave up pulling back and forth with the keys. I take off running, I run pass David who's hiding beside the apartment watching. He says where's the gun? I yelled, "back there," as I continued on behind the Lil'Champ store. We then run across US17 and get into some heavy woods. We hear police sirens everywhere. And a helicopter gets right over the top of us. Its so heavily wooded that they can't see us. It took hours to walk out of there. We walk back to Yulee on [page ends]

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the railroad tracks. By the time we get back there, its midnight or later. We go to my dad's explained to him what happened. He's asking me what we're going to do. I said "I don't know I pointed at David and said ask him, he's made all the decision so far." I went to sleep, got up early went and called my girlfriend Tracy, told her we're in trouble. She said she would be over. I went to the store bought some beer and started drinking. Everyone kept asking me me, What are y'all going to do. I got frustrated and starting popping pills. From then on it was a blur. I woke up in a bed, next to Tracy in a house in Georgia. Her and David made the decision that we would go there, and catch a ride with Tommy, one of Tracy's friends, and go to North Carolina. Later that night we headed up to North Carolina. I was padded out in the car again. Tracy wakes me up. She said, "I just called home, you and David are all over the news, y'all are wanted for murder." I tell her she's got to go back home. So Tommy dropped us off at a hotel, we got a room. The next morning I put her on a bus back to Jacksonville. David and I start walking down the railroad tracks trying to figure out where we're going. We camped out in the woods that night. The night day while walking down the railroad tracks, a cop seen us. We got down in the ditch. David stayed as I ran. He was taken to jail. Where I learned he was later released. He hitchhiked back to Yulee, and went to my dads house. Where I learned my dad pulled a gun on him, and called the cops. David was arrested. I got to St George South Carolina, where I ran into a guy name Jim Butt, who was doing hurricane clean up from Hurricane Huge that hit back in September 1989. I went to work for him. I worked with him until February 7, 1990. I was in a hotel room there in Summerville SC, when the police surrounded me. I was arrested and taken into custody.
David got a plead dewal of 25 years. He severed 11 years 2 months and is not living in South Georgia. I was offered a life sentence for which I refused. Had I taken it, I would have gotten paroled 5 years ago. But I decided to go to trial not realizing the deck was stacked.

[Page 3]

Date: 5/1/2020 3:39:03 PM
PAGE 4.)
Q. Let me ask you this, how would you describe the mannerisms of the defendant as you saw him that day did you ever see him staggering?
A. No
Q. Did you ever see him talking with his speech slurred?
A. No.
Q. Did he appear to know what was going on around him?
A. Yes.
So here we seen once again the jury has been misled with perjured testimony that was unequivocally, orchestrated by the DA's would become sitting Judge's right there in that court house.
Why would Strickland deliberately and blatantly lie under oath? Let's look at that. Well Joseph Lee Strickland SR. was a convicted felon. He lied under oath in the January 13th sworn statement by saying he never got the marijuana. So their holding perjury charges over his head there. He also held the stolen gun. So he's a convicted felon in possession of stolen property, and in possession of a firearm which cares 3 years mandatory. And they've got child endangerment, he left his two year old son in the truck with a loaded gun. Did my attorney bring any of this out? Absolutely not! As you can see, the deck was stacked! There was no possibly way for me to have a winning hand in this sham of trial.
Let's move on to the testimony of John David Hatch, my childhood friend that I loved like a brother. That I would have died for. And I still may die for.
Okay in EXHIBIT ( A ) HATCH'S written statement taken 1-21-90. We seen on lines 15-16 that he told the driver where to stop. He knew what he was doing and where he wanted to do it at. Lines 18-19 , He says, "As I John D. Hatch was taking a leak I heard 7 or 8 gun shots." Okay so we've established where he's at and what he's doing when the shots are fired he's taking a leak.. If we look at EXHIBIT ( K ) page 7 of Hatch's sworn statement lines 15-17" and after I got out I started walking down towards, you know towards off to the side of the road and all I could hear was gun shots. Now if we look at his trial testimony see EXHIBIT ( L ) page 448 lines 14-16. "I got out and started walking back towards the back of the truck and that is when I heard the gun go off." Now that's taken from my original statement. See EXHIBIT (B) my February 7, 1990 statement. Page 1 lines 18-21 "I Ronald Clark got out first then David got out. I Ronald Clark walked towards the back end of the truck and that's when I Ronald Clark heard at least 6(six) shots. So we see David has went from taking a leak, which he figured out that he didn't have enough time to do. So he changes it up walking towards the ditch off the side of the road. And last but not least, he puts his self in my spot at the back of the truck. He doesn't know where he was or where he wants to be, as long as he's not standing there at the passenger door with the gun in his hand. Fact that he can't keep his story straight is enough to put doubt in anyones mind. And a good attorney would have tore David up on that stand. But we're not done with David's perjured testimony at trial and in his depositions.

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David said he stole the murder weapon off the headboard of Mecca Ann Baileys bed. See EXHIBIT (M) page 479 trial transcript of Hatch's testimony lines 5-7 Question by DA Answer Hatch
Q. And the firearm was hidden behind the headboard is that correct?
A. It was played on the headboard.
We know that's another lie and to verify this impeachable moment let's look at EXHIBIT (N).
Mrs. Bailey's Deposition. page 9 line's 9-18
Questions by Mr. Maltz, Answer by Ms Mecca Ann Bailey,
Q. I'm going to read you sentence from a statement given by John David Hatch that's dated January 21st, 1990.
Mr Maltz Its given to the police.
Q. Given to the police. It states: On January 9th ,1990 ,while working at 10165 Owens Toad with Don Lee remodeling the house, I,John David Hatch, took a 30 caliber pistol from the headboard of a bed.
A. There is no headboard on that bed. There still is no headboard on that bed. Its not made for one.
Ms Mecca Ann Baileys if called as a witness by my, attorney would have proved that John David Hatch was perjuring himself again. I understand its a small insignificant lie. But there small insignificant lies add up to impeachment. And totally discrediting the states star witness. The would have been saying, We can't depend on anything that comes out of this man's mouth to be anything but a lie. When your lying about the little issues, then you know for a fact, that your not going to get the truth about the big issues. And we see so many lies in his sworn statement's, and depositions that should have been brought to light for the jury to see. Let's continue to look at David's impeachable testimony by examining EXHIBIT (O) Page 28 and 29 of David Hatch's June 27,1990 Sworn statement, Where he says we met in the Nassau county jail, and carried on the following conversation Questions by Mr Davis? Answer John Hatch lines 1-25
Q. When is the next time you seen Ronnie Clark?
A. It was -- the first time I seen him since I've been in jail was April.
Q. Okay. Where was that?
A. Nassau county jail.
Q. Okay. Did y'all have a conversation pertaining to the case?
A. No, sir.
Q. Okay. Did you see -- have you seen him a number of times since being in jail?
A. I've seen him one other time.
Q. Okay. When was that?
A. It was approximately two weeks ago.
Q. Okay. And here was that?
A. In the Nassau county jail.
Q. Okay. Did you and Ronnie Clark have any discussion at that time?
A. Yes sir.
Q. Okay. What was the discussion that you had?

[Page 5]

A. About everything that happened, how he wish the plan would have stayed the same as it was whenever we started. If it would , neither one of us would be in the shape we was in now. I would --
Q. Did he say what plan he was talking about?
A. Yes, sir.
That's David testimony at trial as well, please see EXHIBIT (P) Page 475 and 476 of the trial transcripts.

[Page 6]

Date: 5/4/2020 10:18:35 AM
PAGE 5.)
Mr Davis had he hired an investigator would have found EXHIBIT (Q) An incident report written on May 9,1990 by Officer Jeannett Sares of the Nassau county sheriff's department ,where her and officer Hodges witnessed, "Inmate David Hatch did threaten to kill inmate Ronald Clark." I discovered this incident report back in 2005 when I was pro se acting as my own counsel going through Hatch's jail records. What it shows, is David is saying that we met up two weeks earlier, and had this discussion which would have been in the last week of May, but we've got an incident report that has staff on high alert. Their not going to allow David and myself around each other. And this is a document that should and could have been used to assist in impeaching Hatch and keeping his testimony out of court. Which would have resulted in a better plead agreement than the one offered. See EXHIBIT (R) Phone-o-gram dated 9-21-90 , at 2:25 pm ,where Assistant DA. Lance Day, contacted Mr Davis' office, and stated that," Re- Ronald Clark- offer on life is open until Sept. 25th." Had David been impeached, the whole case falls apart, and they offer a reasonable plea bargain.
Let's look further into this impeachment testimony. Let's look at another small lie that David told on the stand. See EXHIBIT (S) Page 463 trial transcripts. Hatch's testimony at trial lines 18 and 19.
Question Assistant DA Malt Answer, David Hatch
Q. What happened at Jackie's Seafood?
A. Me and Ronald Clark left and paid for the beer.
Now the waitress and hitchhiker should have been tracked down by the investigator and called as witnesses to show David is lying. We can see David's lie by simply looking at EXHIBIT (T) Page 19 of John David Hatch's June 13,1990 sworn statement. You see in this David's talking about us being in Jackie's seafood lines 19-21 David states, "So we left out the back way of Jackie's seafood, we left the hitchhiker in there to pay for the bill or whatever he done, and we got back in the truck." David lies so much, that he can't keep up with his own story. And you see all of this inconsistent testimony could have been used to discredit him. And had I had a good lawyer they would have exposed all of this to the jury. They would have held an impeachment process and a better plead agreement would have been put on the table.
We're not finished, not by a long shot! Here we look at EXHIBIT (U) Page 498 trial transcript lines 7-13 of David Hatch testimony. Questions by DA Lance Day, Answers by Hatch.
Q. When you stated that Clark said something to you at some point what was that?
A. That he was going to take the mans truck as soon as he stopped to let us out.
Q. Had there been any discussion of that before you got in the truck?
A. No ,sir.
Okay . We're going to look at two things here. One is Hatch is saying there was no discussion before hand. Yet if we look at EXHIBIT (V) Detective Jerry Jesonek deposition from Wednesday May 16,1990 pages 42 and 43.stating at line 14, Question Mr Maltz, Answer Det Jesonek.
Q. Let me kind of go through something. I want to find out if there is anything you know based on your investigation which would tend to disprove any of the facts set forth in Mr Hatch's

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statement? That's the first thing I want to know, one. And also, I wan't to deal a little bit more with what sort of knowledge or preknowledge he had, if any, about what Clark did. Okay? In other words, whether he was in on the planning or preparation to kill Mr Willis or anything of that nature Why don't we deal with that first ? Okay? I assume during the time prior to or sometime during the interview you were asking Hatch: Did you know what he was going to do, was there some plan.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. He indicated to me that there had been a statement made by Mr Clark that they were going to kill the first son of a bitch that stopped.
Now that's Detective Jerry Jesonek's testimony. Which would have proved Hatch once again lies on the stand to the jury. And again Hatch would have been impeached by a good attorney. But think what else this shows? Well if you accept the Detective's testimony here, that the plan was orchestrated before Mr Willis picks us up, or even if you accept Hatch's story that I tell him in the cab of the truck which would be highly unlikely, either way we've got two issues, its premeditated, and Hatch is the one that picks the location for this murder to happen. That is indisputable testimony! No ifs ands or buts about it. Hatch picks the perfect dark isolated area on US 17 at the exact moment that there's no traffic coming! And he gets away with it! He has unequivocally set Mr Willis up for this murder. And you cannot dispute it!
As we've just seen there was plenty of evidence in the record for my counsel to use against the states three key witnesses. Now Lance Day was so desperate to get this conviction, that he brought in two Nassau county correctional officers to lie and testify. That I told them during transport that I shot Mr Willis. They come forward two weeks before my trial starts. Saying that I said this three months earlier. One is Chief William R.Brown, who had a grudge against me, over an incident in early 1988, where while he was working at Walkers service station, he messed up my Dad's car. When I got back in town, I was living and working in Savannah Georgia, my dad gave me a baseball bat we drove up to Walker's, I got out and knocked the front window out. Which is why Chief William Brown had beef with me, and didn't mind taking the stand and lying for the prosecutor. Over the years we've witnessed on TV cops talking about lying under oath on the stand. There's no risk when the District Attorney's office is supporting your perjured testimony.

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Date: 5/4/2020 10:18:34 AM
PAGE 6.)
When I told Mr Davis about this, he said we don't want to bring up the fact that you committed a crime against Chief Brown and his employer. SO none of that was brought out. Think about this, why is two backwoods redneck correctional officers contacting the DA's office lawyers. Nine days before my trial, saying that out of the blue, I say that I killed Mr Willis. Think about this. Everyone in the county jail knows that Hatch is saying I'm the shooter, and I'm saying Hatch is the shooter. So had I said this, surely an incident report would have been immediately written up! And they would have immediately contacted the state attorneys office, where they would have immediately been subpoenaed for a sworn statement or deposition. You know why they didn't write an incident report? You know why they didn't call Lance Day at that very moment. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this was a lie,created by the DA's office to try to solidify a conviction on a case where they knew that their three key witnesses, was as shaky as it comes. And the fact that Assistant DA's Day and Maltz, has Joseph Lee Strickland unequivocally lying under oath, should be no surprise that they encouraged two redneck correctional officers to lie for them.
Next I'll be going into part three, the appeals. And if you think you just witnessed some injustice, you haven't seen nothing yet. In this next section you'll witness Judge David Cary Wiggins, delay appeals, manipulate my counsel, and do everything in his power to protect the honor and integrity of my trial lawyer turned Judge Henry E. Davis and my trial prosecutor turned Judge Lance Day. You will be truly flabbergasted at the corruption and unethical conduct that takes place. Where they will violate clearly established law, turning my attorneys working appellate files over to the state in violation of attorney - client privilege. And Judge David C. Wiggins will not relinquish control of this case. Although Florida Statute requires it. Yes its just getting good. To view the exhibits mentioned above go over to French coalition against the death penalty website.
http://fcadpinfo.wixsite.com/fcadp
facebook.com/FRCADP
fcadp.info@gmail.com

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