"An eye for an eye,
and a tooth for a tooth...
but I'm here to share...
To share the truth."
 

 

 

 

MY LAST STATEMENT
by Ronald Wayne Clark Jr.

As I lay here upon this gurney before you, __,__, 2003, to be put to death by the state of Florida for the January 12, 1990 armed robbery and shooting death of Mr. Arnold Welliz of Yulee, Florida, ask yourself this: Did he really do it?  Was he the trigger man?  Or did we set the wrong man free and did our system fail us again?

Are we about to execute another innocent man?  Well, that's a question only two living people have the answer to:  John David Hatch and myself.  This case had no eye witnesses except myself and Hatch, and there was no DNA.  So it all came down to Hatch's word against mine as to who pulled the trigger.  The question is, are you killing an innocent man?  That's a question you may never have the answer to, but then again, the answer to your question may arrive too late.

As you know, my name is Ronald Wayne Clark Jr and I'm 35 years old.  I've spent over 1/3 of my life confined to a 9X6 cell here on Florida's Death Row.  Throughout the legal process, I've been provided with one after another inadequate attorney provided by the great state of Florida, from my incompetent trial lawyer all the way through the appellate process.

I've seen the appeal's process last 15-20, even 25 years and you want to talk "Cruel and Unusual" punishment...  Confining a man or woman to a 9X6 foot cage for 20-25 years with the sentence of death hanging over their head... If that is not cruel and unusual, then cruel and unusual punishment doesn't exist in today's society.

Being confined to suffer day after day, week after week, month after month, year in and year out until your captors are ready to take from you what remaining life you have left...  Yet you want to call yourselves a civilized society?  I think not!

For what kind of civilized society straps their fellow man or woman to a chair, table, or gurney and puts them to death as fellow citizens stand around and view their horrific premeditated murder?  This is nothing more than premeditated murder at the highest level, sought after and justified by the majority against the most poor and underprivileged in our society. 

Two perfect examples to prove my point are O.J. Simpson and actor Robert Blake.  In neither case would the prosecutors seek the death penalty if found guilty, so where is equal justice?  Or as our forefathers said, "Justice for all"?  It's a shame when a man or woman's life and or fate hangs in the balance of a dollar and yet this is what our system has come to. I don't use the words "Justice System" because I've seen no justice in this system!

America may have one of the best systems in the world, but one thing is for sure:  It's far from perfect.  I know, because I'm laying here strapped to this gurney, about to be put to death, while my codefendant, John David Hatch, walks the streets a free man after serving only 11 years and 2 months on a 25 year plea agreement for his testimony against me.  Again, it was his word against mine as to who was the 'trigger man'.

So this I know:  When dealing with the death penalty and the taking of a human life, an irreversible act, we need more than just the best, we need perfection. 

But a perfect system is just not possible, for when human emotions are involved, mistakes will be made and just look at Florida's average on mistakes and executions!

From 1979 to 2002, Florida executed 57 men and women.  Yet they had to release 24 people off death row.  So for every two executions, one person goes free.  not a very good average I'd say. It makes you wonder how many slipped through the cracks of a broken system? 

How many innocent men and women have died?  New technology in DNA is helping to eliminate a lot of mistakes, but unfortunately, every case is not built around DNA or eye witness testimony.  Most cases, as in mine, were built around circumstantial evidence.

Then again, look at the people who had to be set free, such as Juan Melendez, who the prosecutors said was beyond rehabilitation, convincing 12 jurors to take the man's life.  Yet this very man is now living a normal, productive life in society.  Mistakes! Mistakes! Mistakes!

Because society sees only with blood red vengeance, they're overlooking the whole picture.  For it's not revenge we need to seek, it's truth and justice! Seek and execute justice, not people.

We don't steal from the thief, rob the robber, or rape the rapist... Then why must we try to murder the murderer?  Violence breeds violence! Just look at today's society!

While we are at it, let's also look at the misuse of the death penalty and, keep in mind that everything that is designed to be used a certain way may not always be used that way.  In most cases, the death penalty is improperly used!  Judges and prosecutors use it to further their political careers.  prosecutors use it to keep a man or woman from going to trial, threatening them to take a plea bargain or they'll seek the death penalty, as they did in my case.  Yet our forefather's guaranteed us a trial by a jury of our peers in the Constitution. 

The prosecutor in my case tried to deprive me of my Constitutional right.  Before my trial, a plea bargain for life in prison was offered.  I refused, knowing Hatch was receiving 25 years based on his word against mine. I opted for trial, and the prosecutor threatened me with, "If you take this to trial, you will lose and we will get the death penalty." 

Either this was or was not a death penalty case, and if it was, then why was a plea bargain offered?  I opted for trial, thinking justice would prevail, not knowing the system as I do now.  If I had, I would have realized that I stood no chance whatsoever. 

I was assigned a state paid, inadequate attorney by the name of Henry Davis, who had never handled a capital case and shouldn't have handled mine.  He was incompetent to the point that he didn't even ask for an investigator or co-counsel. This was his first capital case and this same man sat next to me during my trial saying how much he didn't believe in the death penalty.  Yes, the same man who I see a few years later on the local news as Judge Henry Davis, sitting on the bench handing down a death sentence.  This is the same man the courts assigned to my case to help me fight for my life.

The deck was stacked and I couldn't see it.  The jail psychologist had me so doped up on tranquilizers (Thorazine) that throughout my trial, I was useless.  I was being screwed all the way around the table and didn't even realize it.  Yes, the deck was stacked and justice was denied.

I'm going to close this with one of my poems, and what more appropriate title than . . .

My Last Words

Razor wire fence
I'm held in suspense
Surrounded by concrete and steel
Held to surrender to their will.

Premeditated hate
I await my fate
And now I must face
this execution date.

Step off in a room
I feel the doom
Strapped to a table
completely unable

My last words will be heard
I will speak them loud
I'll hold my head proud
and then I'll say:

"An eye for an eye,
and a tooth for a tooth,
but I'm here to share
To share the truth...

For this here
I have no doubt
this is truly what
it was all about:

An eye for an eye
America will cry,
but I'm here to say
that that's a lie,

For a rich man will walk
and a poor man will die
and this you cannot deny
nor justify.

Worst of the worst?
Yeah, maybe so,
for it's a lawyer who put me
here on death row
assigned by the state
to determine my fate.

I was white trash
just another junkie
and that's why you assigned me
a two-bit flunky.

I knew at first glance
that I didn't stand any kind of chance!
 

Ronald W. Clark Jr.
The Death Row Poet
Written December 25, 2001