Post by WaTcHeR on Jul 21, 2006 14:20:00 GMT -5
07.21.2006 - FORT PIERCE · A Fort Pierce police officer accused of battering his pregnant girlfriend was sentenced to probation Wednesday and resigned from the agency under a plea deal.
Officer David Leon Clark, 42, pleaded no contest to charges of tampering with a witness, possession of a firearm with an altered serial number and attempted aggravated battery. He was sentenced by St. Lucie County Circuit Judge Gary Sweet to three years of probation and ordered to undergo anger management and substance abuse treatment as well as give up his law enforcement certification, records show.
Sweet withheld adjudication on the charges, which means he will not be a convicted felon. Had he been convicted at trial, Clark could have faced 11 years in prison.
The alleged victim, Clark's fiancée, Joely Gallagher, said their April argument was blown out of proportion and had asked for the charges to be dropped. She could not be reached by phone Wednesday, but said in a letter last month that the argument was "exaggerated and guided by emotions," claimed officers had coached her on what to say and called the charges "inaccurate."
A police report quoted Gallagher saying that Clark choked her and slammed her head into a floor during an argument. She had red marks and swelling on her neck, a swollen and cut lip, and a large bump and redness on the back of her head.
Though Clark was initially arrested on an attempted murder charge, prosecutors instead pursued an aggravated battery charge.
Clark had been on paid administrative leave from the police department while the case was pending, but quit Wednesday, said Audria Moore, a police spokeswoman. An internal investigation into the incident is almost complete, she said.
Defense attorney Hugo Concha said his client agreed to the compromise because he did not want to put himself or his fianceé through the stress of a trial. Concha said he remained confident Clark would have been found not guilty.
There are no restrictions preventing him from seeing Gallagher under the plea deal, Concha said.
"The love between them both was an incentive for him to accept this plea offer," Concha said.
www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pclark20jul20,0,7738174.story?coll=sfla-news-palm
Officer David Leon Clark, 42, pleaded no contest to charges of tampering with a witness, possession of a firearm with an altered serial number and attempted aggravated battery. He was sentenced by St. Lucie County Circuit Judge Gary Sweet to three years of probation and ordered to undergo anger management and substance abuse treatment as well as give up his law enforcement certification, records show.
Sweet withheld adjudication on the charges, which means he will not be a convicted felon. Had he been convicted at trial, Clark could have faced 11 years in prison.
The alleged victim, Clark's fiancée, Joely Gallagher, said their April argument was blown out of proportion and had asked for the charges to be dropped. She could not be reached by phone Wednesday, but said in a letter last month that the argument was "exaggerated and guided by emotions," claimed officers had coached her on what to say and called the charges "inaccurate."
A police report quoted Gallagher saying that Clark choked her and slammed her head into a floor during an argument. She had red marks and swelling on her neck, a swollen and cut lip, and a large bump and redness on the back of her head.
Though Clark was initially arrested on an attempted murder charge, prosecutors instead pursued an aggravated battery charge.
Clark had been on paid administrative leave from the police department while the case was pending, but quit Wednesday, said Audria Moore, a police spokeswoman. An internal investigation into the incident is almost complete, she said.
Defense attorney Hugo Concha said his client agreed to the compromise because he did not want to put himself or his fianceé through the stress of a trial. Concha said he remained confident Clark would have been found not guilty.
There are no restrictions preventing him from seeing Gallagher under the plea deal, Concha said.
"The love between them both was an incentive for him to accept this plea offer," Concha said.
www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pclark20jul20,0,7738174.story?coll=sfla-news-palm