Paul Clark,
Holding a gun made 15-year-old Paul Clark feel like a bigger man, he remembers. He was a slightly-built kid—5’4” and 118 pounds. The weapon commanded the respect of others on the street. Clark insists never intended to use it. But then he did, and a 17-year-old named Keith Thomas was killed.
Clark was 18 in August 1980 when he shot Thomas twice after a fight at a block party near his Brooklyn home, resulting in a 33 ⅓ year prison sentence. It took years for Clark to acknowledge his guilt and remorse, writing a letter of apology to the Thomas family. “It’s a decision I regret for the rest of my life,” he said.
But three years after he was sent to an upstate prison, Clark was brought to Brooklyn to stand trial for a different crime, the attempted robbery and murder of a taxi driver. He was stunned by the accusation by a police detective and a single witness.
“The only thing I know from that crime is what I learned at trial,” says Clark, who still maintains his innocence today. The judge called him a “baby-faced killer” and added 25 years to Clark’s prison sentence, for a total of 58 years.
“I didn’t have any hope,” Clark said, confronted with the possibility that he may die in prison.