Call to Action: Letter Writing Campaign to Congress in Defense of ATF Agent
7/1/2010
Call to Action: Letter Writing Campaign to Congress in Defense of ATF Agent
07/01/2010
National President Chuck Canterbury is asking FOP members to mount a letter-writing campaign to their respective U.S. Senators and Representatives in support of William G. Clark, a Special Agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), who has been unjustly charged for actions he took in defense of his life and that of another citizen in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Special Agent Clark, who serves in the U.S. Virgin Islands, was involved in a fatal domestic violence case and while the shooting was ruled as justifiable by the ATF Shooting Incident Review Board (SIRB), the Territorial court has ruled that there are aspects of the Constitution which do not apply in the Virgin Islands. Specifically, the court has invalidated the supremacy clause and refuses to recognize Clark as a Federal agent, recognition which would spare him prosecution for justifiable actions in the line of duty.
In 2008, ATF Special Agent Clark was stationed in the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands and assigned to the island of St. Thomas. On 7 September of that year, Special Agent Clark was off-duty and leaving his home when he observed a heated domestic confrontation involving his neighbors, Margie Duncan and her boyfriend Marcus Sukow. He noted that the intoxicated Sukow was violently threatening Duncan and that the situation was rapidly escalating when Sukow armed himself with a large metal flashlight, similar to those used by law enforcement officers. Sukow repeatedly struck the vehicle in which Ms. Duncan was trying to flee and when Special Agent Clark responded to her pleas for help, Sukow became enraged and attacked him and Ms. Duncan.
As the assailant swung at Special Agent Clark, the assailant struck hard against the vehicle door frame immediately prior to attempting to strike Special Agent Clark in the head. Special Agent Clark drew his service weapon and fired at the assailant at close range, striking him several times in the chest. Despite Special Agent Clark's best attempts to resuscitate him, the attacker did not survive his injuries.
In spite of the findings of the SIRB, Special Agent Clark was charged with Second Degree Murder by the Attorney General's Office in the U. S. Virgin Islands. His defense team has exhausted all legal remedies to prevent having this case tried in a Territorial court. Such efforts have been hampered by bad faith omissions, flawed logic and poor application of existing law. In April 2009, U.S. District Court Judge Gomez ruled against transferring the case to U.S. District Court; but this decision was certainly affected by the U.S. Virgin Islands withholding details of witness' exculpatory statement of the shooting.
More recently, in March of this year, the U.S. Virgin Islands Superior Court Judge Brenda Hollar invalidated the supremacy clause declaring that the "Constitution does not follow the flag" and that "not every provision of the Constitution is applicable in the Virgin Islands" and that, therefore, Special Agent Clark could not be granted immunity as a Federal agent for the actions he took in the line of duty.
A direct result of this case has been that the ATF has pulled all of their agents out of the U.S. Virgin Islands and other Federal law enforcement agents, like the DEA and FBI, are not responding or assisting local law enforcement, leaving island residents more vulnerable to crime.
The agencies, however, have felt they have no recourse given the rulings of the Territorial court against Agent Clark and its implications for other Federal agents.
"Now, given the current legal and factual positions taken by the Virgin Islands Government, federal agents are not responding and will not respond…," wrote Paul A. Murphy, acting U.S. Attorney for the territory.
To hopefully prevent any further miscarriage of justice, FOP members are asked to contact their Senators and U.S. Representatives to ask them to intercede on Special Agent Clark"s behalf. A suggested text for a letter to be sent via email to Congressmen can be downloaded here.
Congressmen prefer receiving correspondence by email. To find out the email address for your Senator and/or Representative, go to www.senate.gov and www.house.gov, and there you will be given directions on how to find your senator or representative and how to send an email to him or her.
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