Mark Clark who has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 1995, broke the protective order against him by calling his victim from prison. He says it was all in the spirit of the Narcotics Anonymous 12 step program and just wanted to say he was sorry. The victim was scared and did not appreciate the call. Considering this was his 4th protective order violation, the Judge was not impressed.
A Beatrice man was sentenced 20 to 36 months in prison for making a phone call to a woman who had a protection order against him.
Mark Clark was sentenced in Gage County District Court Wednesday afternoon by Judge Paul Korslund. The convicted offense was a subsequent offense, making it a felony.
Gage County Chief Deputy Attorney Rick Schreiner opened his statement by saying he appreciated how Clark has recently helped law enforcement by cooperating and informing them what he saw during two recent jail assaults at the Gage County Jail.
Schreiner said, however, that it doesn’t take away from the seriousness of the crime he committed and said more jail time is going to have to be served.
“I know there’s no violence and it was just a phone call,” Schreiner said, “but the state takes compliance with court orders very seriously. Based on what you have before you, which is a lengthy criminal history dating back to 1995, I don’t think anything other than the maximum sentence is appropriate.”
Schreiner also noted that the victim in this case has expressed fear about the possibility of Clark getting out of jail.
A sentence of 20 to 60 months was possible for Clark, which is a sentence that his attorney, Jeffrey Goltz, felt was a bit much for a phone call.
Goltz said Clark’s phone call to the victim was an attempt to apologize, which is part of a 12-step program in Narcotics Anonymous.
