Summary: The Cleveland man who is seeking the Supreme Court to challenge whether his accuser, a 3-year-old, can testify through a caretaker, meanwhile is charged with running a prostitution ring from jail.
We have a real winner in Darius Clark, 28. He was convicted of beating his girlfriend’s children, after the 3-year-old boy presented with whip slashes across his back and face, and the 22-month-old girl had burns on her chest, face, arms, legs, two black eyes, and a bludgeoned hand. The 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals overturned this conviction on the argument that Clark didn’t have a chance to confront his accuser in court. That is, the 3-year-old boy. The boy was deemed incompetent to testify, and his narrative of how he was beaten from inches of his life was offered through a teacher who talked with the boy. The teacher asked the boy who had done this to him and he named Clark.
Clark used his new found freedom to wind up in jail again with charges that he assaulted a 17-year-old nursing home employee from Maple Heights.
Meanwhile, his case that he had the constitutional right to confront the 3-year-old in court is being presented to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Now he is being charged with running a prostitution ring from county jail. He is alleged to have done so through the help of Drew Phelps Linnabary, also charged; he is said to have given orders to his cohort, who is a free man, while himself incarcerated.
Assistant County Prosecutor Holly Welsh said Clark was “simply incorrigible,” in a statement against him. “He’s been pimping from County Jail while well-intentioned lawyers have been trying to defend his constitutional rights before the Supreme Court of the United State and while he awaits trial on another set of felonies.”
The tone of exasperation is difficult to miss, but it is hoped, with the case presented before the Supreme Court, that clarity is achieved on whether caretakers are allowed to testify on behalf of children.
News Source: Cleveland.com
