Man Gets 15 Years In Prostitute’s Murder

Sat., Nov. 9, 1996

From Staff And Wire Reports

A California man who pleaded guilty to strangling a Spokane prostitute in 1987 was sentenced to nearly 15 years in prison.

Robert D. Clark, 59, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after being identified nearly 10 years after the crime happened.

Spokane Superior Court Judge Richard Schroeder based the sentence this week on Clark having only one other felony conviction, for forgery.

Earlier this year, Clark was arrested for the crime while living in California. Police identified him as the suspect in the murder after finally matching his fingerprints with a set found on a beer can at the apartment in 1987.

When arrested, Clark told investigators he did not realize he had killed English.

He told investigators he met English in a Spokane bar, then agreed to follow her to her friend’s apartment.

Once there, she tried to rob him with a knife, he told police.

Police say she died after being strangled by a scarf. Clark said he knocked her down in a struggle, and he ran off.

Clark agreed to plead guilty rather than face a murder trial and try to convince a jury he had acted in self-defense. , DataTimes

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