Texarkana man takes plea deal, 40-year sentence, in double stabbing

TEXARKANA -- A man who stabbed two convenience store clerks last year was ordered Monday to serve 40 years in prison as part of a plea bargain in Miller County Circuit Court.

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David Wayne Clark Jr., 25, pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted capital murder and a single count of aggravated robbery.

Defense attorney Darren Anderson noted that Clark has a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia but was found competent to stand trial by a psychologist. Circuit Judge Brent Haltom said Clark's competency determination is based on the evaluator's finding that Clark understands the proceedings around him, understands the difference between right and wrong and is able to assist his lawyer in his defense.

Clark's mental evaluation notes that his violent behavior was likely driven by substance abuse. Voluntary intoxication is not a defense to criminal conduct.

Had Clark's case gone before a jury, he would have faced the possibility of multiple life sentences. Clark has been in jail since his arrest March 27, 2015, the day two clerks were attacked with a box cutter at a convenience store in Texarkana.

Clark told two Texarkana police detectives that he attacked the clerks because he believed they were members of the Islamic State and he felt threatened by them, according to a search warrant affidavit for Clark's home.

Clark allegedly walked in the store, picked out some items and placed them on the counter as if he intended to buy them.

As the clerk worked, Clark reached across the counter and stabbed the cashier in the neck with a box cutter.

The cashier and a second employee ran, but Clark jumped over the counter and landed on top of the second clerk, stabbing him in the side.

Once paramedics arrived, the clerks were taken to local hospitals for treatment. One of them identified Clark, and other witnesses said he lived in a trailer behind a nearby house on Delaware Street.

"Mr. Clark was still wearing the same pants as he was wearing during the attack. However, he was not wearing the outer jacket that had been seen in the video," a court document states.

Clark claimed he walked to the store that day to buy a beer but recalled nothing about his interaction with the clerks. He said he remembered getting a razor from his parents' house.

State Desk on 08/27/2016

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