Willie DeWayne Clark, a suspect in the homicide of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams, was advised in Denver County Court this morning that he is facing a new charge of possessing contraband in the Denver County jail.
Capt. Frank Gale of the Denver Sheriff’s Department said the contraband was a homemade knife, or shank.
Gale said deputies began a search of the high-security area of the county jail where Clark is housed and noticed a piece of metal was missing. That finding triggered a search of individual cells.
During the so-called “shakedown” of cells, deputies allegedly found a plastic orange spoon that had been broken and sharpened into a cutting instrument in Clark’s cell.
“The weapon was located inside the cell occupied and assigned only to inmate Willie Clark,” according to the statement of probable cause. “The weapon was located on top of a metal shelving unit inside Clark’s cell.”
Gale declined to say whether the metal that was missing had anything to do with the weapon seized from Clark’s cell.
The Denver District Attorney’s Office formally charged Clark this afternoon for the Dec. 8 incident. He will be formally advised of the charge on Friday morning.
Clark, 25, already is facing life in prison if he is convicted in the Williams case. Williams was shot and killed outside of a Denver nightclub Jan. 1, 2007.
Clark also is charged in the fatal shooting of Kalonniann Clark, a woman who was killed in December 2006 just before she was to testify in an attempted murder case against Brian Kenneth Hicks, who is one of Willie Clark’s associates.
Hicks also is charged in Kalonniann Clark’s death and with drug-trafficking crimes.
Willie Clark’s federal drug case was dismissed by a judge Tuesday so state prosecutors could move forward on the murder cases.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
