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Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
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MaelstromInTheMiddle
09/18/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
"Rented house" - pfff

So, that lends more credibility to the claim he's a killer type that he grew up in a rented house?!
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MaelstromInTheMiddle
09/18/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
Cue the movie of the week in three, two, one...
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Solomon Grundy
09/17/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
The only proven crime here are his friend's eyebrows. Why why why do Guidos manscape like Joey Arias circa 1996?
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Paul.B.Dodd
09/17/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
Official statements from the New Haven police and Yale asserts that this is an 'office crime.' His primary job was probably taking care of the animals in the animal facility in the basement of Amistad, rats, mice, rabbits and guinea pigs. I don't know if they still have rabbits and guinea pigs down there anymore but when I was a student there they did. Maybe he snapped not because he was a stalker but because he has a short temper and he did not agree with the way the graduate student was handling the animals. People sacrifice animals (mice and rats) in different ways. Some people suffocate them with dry ice(CO2), some people break their necks, some people pinch their windpipes. Neuroscience labs use miniature guillotine to decapitate the mice. Maybe the poor girl did something in the animal room that set off his fuse and he just become hysterically violent.
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DoctorJezebel
09/17/09

@Paul.B.Dodd: When I was an undergraduate (I was a cantab mind you, so my educational experience might have been inferior to yours :) we basically anesthetized them and ran formaldehyde through their veins, a process known as 'perfusion'. I don't remember people ever suffocating them or breaking their necks, but we did give them the "hankie soaked in chloral hydrate" to get them down. I definitely agree with your short temper idea, but I think it probably arose more due to a complex or something like that.
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Paul.B.Dodd
09/17/09

@DoctorJezebel: What's cantab? As you can infer by my ignorance, my educational experience was not all that great.

ABC News reported that the suspect and the victim had exchanged e-mails in the morning of the day she disappeared. The emails were concerned with following rules and regulation in the animal center.
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jimstoic
09/17/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
I'm thinking of those L&O SVU episodes where Olivia tells the victim that she needs to come forward and testify to stop the guy from doing the same thing to someone else.
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Solomon Grundy
09/17/09

@jimstoic: Ha, that was exactly the very first image to cross my mind as I was reading. Oh Olivia, your wisdom has touched a generation.
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Colander
09/17/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
"...but I choose to ignore the rumors and try to keep in mind that the people that are the source are a bit jealous."

People in 'happy relationships' can be pretty fucking smug, huh?

I just assume everybody is a philandering murderer, and so stuff like this is simply the other shoe dropping.
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BettyCrocker
09/17/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
• Mr. Crocker grew up in a mortgage-less white house in an upper-middle-class neighborhood of suburban anomie and quiet desperation when a nearby golf course was humming. Jim Garrett, 65, who lives two doors down, said the house the Crockers lived in went from a prosaic split-level to a colonial as the years went by and the golf club continued its obnoxious constant humming, and eventually Mr. Crocker’s parents moved out. They went to a waterfront bungalow in Oyster Bay, NY, north of Jericho, where Mr. Crocker’s mother works on meddling in her adult children’s lives, playing tennis, and discreetly farting into an Ethan Allen sofa and blaming it on the cat.

Shit. Now I want to lock me up.

Sorry, Mom.
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DoctorJezebel
09/17/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
I feel terrible for Clark's family, and naturally Le's and her fiance's as well.

Based on various news reports (girlfriend "rape" @16, yelling at some lady's 17 year old boy, being "controlling" to the GF, staircase yelling, etc.) and this murder, I'd make the case to look for something called Intermittent Explosive Disorder. It's an impulse control disorder with pretty decent biological correlates, where people act way way out of proportion to an inciting event. These are the people with road rage who will not just show you the finger, but hunt you down, stalk you, and make you fear for your life.

If this was indeed the case, perhaps a little Depakote or Prozac could have prevented this.
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LUV_TRUK
09/17/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
I was hoping this guy wasn't the killer simply because I wanted to make a point about rushing to judgment.

Thanks for messing up my point, Raymond Clark. Asshole. Oh, and for killing that woman too. That was also not cool.
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Freddie DeBoer
09/17/09

@LUV_TRUK: Whether he's guilty or not-- and, you know, we do have this whole deal called a trial-- the point is just as important.
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newsnun
09/17/09

@LUV_TRUK: Yes, we learned so much about jumping to conclusions after Richard Jewell.
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FaceMelter
09/17/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
You guys really need to get more involved here. He has been officially charged.

For Hamilton.
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snugbug
09/17/09

@FaceMelter: Be fair. They've really made an effort to introduce balance, skepticism and more rigorous attribution after we screamed at them so much in the comments.
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Bos'un's Mate
09/17/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
Tinsley Mortimer just realized how lucky she is that she's not Asian, but she's getting rid of her cat anyway.
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Edited by Bos'un's Mate at 09/17/09 11:08 AM Bos'un's Mate was starred Bos'un's Mate was unstarred

vandusen
09/17/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
Generally, rules of evidence would ensure the jury didn't hear about the alleged high school incident, because a jury hearing that would be less inclined to fairly consider the evidence against as per this incident, and would just assume he's a bad guy who probably did it, thus denying him a fair trial. But now thanks to you guys, Clark's hope of escaping the prejudice of 12 of his peers is a mere legal fiction. Keep up the good work internet!!
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snugbug promoted this comment vandusen was starred vandusen was unstarred

snugbug
09/17/09

@vandusen: But if this goes to trial (IF, IF, IF.. They only just charged him), a judge can strike the high-school incident as permissible evidence in court, and instruct the jury to not take into account, yes?
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Bos'un's Mate
09/17/09

@vandusen: But this is why I spend eight hours a day on Gawker.

"Name?"
"Bos'un's Mate"
"Occupation?"
"I'm a Gawker commenter."
"Dismissed!"
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utensil42
09/17/09

@snugbug: Well, sure the judge can strike it and instruct the jury to disregard it. But, how do you erase biasing information from your brain? If jurors have heard this information, it will be used in their decision, they just might not be aware of it.
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Sergio Hernandez
09/17/09

@snugbug: of course; in theory, a judge would exclude the high school incident as inadmissible evidence, but practically speaking: once the jury hears about it, a judge's instruction isn't really going to unring that bell in their minds.

and you're right, if the cops have strong enough forensic evidence (the DNA, for instance), odds are this'll end in a plea bargain anyway.

I guess one might argue that the aggressive media coverage has so contaminated the jury pool, that if Clark chooses to cop a plea, he may only do so because a jury trial would yield a harsher sentence, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms.
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snugbug promoted this comment Edited by Sergio Hernandez at 09/17/09 12:04 PM Sergio Hernandez was starred Sergio Hernandez was unstarred

Sergio Hernandez
09/17/09

@vandusen: I think you're jumping the gun a little in assuming that whatever jury is impaneled in this case will most certainly be tainted by the media coverage.

This sort of thing is, at least in part, why the jury selection process exists, after all.
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snugbug promoted this comment Edited by Sergio Hernandez at 09/17/09 12:10 PM Sergio Hernandez was starred Sergio Hernandez was unstarred

snugbug
09/17/09

@cerealcommas: You are clearly schooled in these matters--that was a nice analysis of what the future might hold in this situation.
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1.1.1.
09/17/09

@cerealcommas: Another possible option: Bench trial using a defense of the Connecticut equivalent of a plea of Not Guilty by Reason of Mental Defect, on the ground that he has something like Intermittent Explosive Disorder. (Thanks, Doctor Jezebel.)

Connecticut is a small state; I think this is a national story; it's unlikely that most jurors would be unfamiliar with it. Many would lie about whether or not the news coverage had influenced them.

There also would be a motion for a change of venue; he can't be tried in the New Haven area.
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pumpkinsoup promoted this comment Edited by 1.1.1. at 09/17/09 2:08 PM 1.1.1. was starred 1.1.1. was unstarred

1.1.1.
09/17/09

@cerealcommas:

I would not want to be tried by a jury of my peers for a crime like this. If I didn't take a plea, I'd go for a guy or a gal in a black robe.

From what we've heard so far, he is COMPLETELY unsympathetic. He might possibly have a nutcase defense, but that sounds hard to show.
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freedc
09/17/09

@vandusen: Evidence of a prior sexual assault, even if never even prosecuted, IS admissible unless the judge won't allow it. It's a fairly recent change in the rules of evidence.

edit: it would be admissible only if this case turns out to be sexual assault case.
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Edited by freedc at 09/17/09 2:24 PM freedc was starred freedc was unstarred

Seeräuber Jenny
09/17/09

@vandusen:

Really, putting it on Gawker is not fair. This happens to every criminal defendant in every high-profile crime.
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Seeräuber Jenny
09/17/09

@1.1.1.:

Let's see, based on what we know:

Tiny, adorable, very bright, high-achieving young woman gets the life choked out of her a week before her wedding and her corpse is stuffed into a wall by a guy whose job effectively may be cleaning cages.

BENCH TRIAL!
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Sergio Hernandez
09/18/09

@1.1.1.: as I understand it (and my expertise on this matter is limited to several episodes of L&O and exactly one forensic psychology course), NGRIs ("not guilty by reason of insanity" defenses) are pretty uncommon.

Clark would have to show, to a clinician's satisfaction, that he suffers from some DSM-IV mental disorder, of course, but NGRIs can also be unappealing to defendants because they still don't get to just walk out of court scot-free: depending on the disorder, they can simply be indefinitely committed to a psychiatric facility instead of imprisoned in a correctional one.

I don't know what kind of sentence he'd be facing under Connecticut's homicide statute (or whatever plea terms the DA might offer), but at least in some cases, doing jail time is actually preferable to claiming insanity because at least you know you're getting out.

(That point might be moot, of course, if he's looking at a life sentence, the death penalty, etc.)

That said, I completely agree that a change of venue motion would almost certainly be inevitable. And I'd naively argue that if jurors lied about being influenced by the news coverage, the defense could use that as grounds for a mistrial or appeal, but, of course, they'd have a hard time proving a juror lied about such a thing.

A bench trial or a plea deal are this guy's best bet, but I'm not sure a NGRI would necessarily be his best defense... and if the forensic evidence is strong enough, whether or not the media's coverage has contaminated a potential jury is sort of irrelevant.

Assuming, of course, he did it. If he's innocent... shit, that sucks.
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Edited by Sergio Hernandez at 09/18/09 2:12 AM Sergio Hernandez was starred Sergio Hernandez was unstarred

gabbo
09/17/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
I find it more interesting that he was in an Asian-Culture appreciation club in High School. Possibly the precursor to an obsession?
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Freddie DeBoer
09/17/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
These are "chilling factoids"? Seriously? Low bar, I guess.

This whole saga, honestly, has been one of the most pathetic moments in Gawker history, with the vague, self-important ramblings from the bloggers and the asinine, Nancy Drew theorizing about incredibly inconsequential things being "part of the bigger picture." (He was in the Asian Awareness club! Quelle horreur!) Yes, yes, you're all just like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window. Thank god we've Gawker commenters on this case, or we'd never get access to stunning info like "only psychos have Myspace." Truly, the height of criminology.
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Adah
09/17/09

@Freddie DeBoer: Did you not read - he grew up in a rented house, and yet somehow managed to be employed at Yale. The murder was just a natural consequence of this tragedy. His mother worked at Walmart, for God's sake.
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Edited by Adah at 09/17/09 11:06 AM Adah was starred Adah was unstarred

jessica.ann
09/17/09

@Adah: I don't understand why it is so horrifying to grow up in a rented house? I did and I'm just fine.
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valet_of_the_dolls
09/17/09

@jessica.ann: IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE YOU SNAP. SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP.
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freedc
09/17/09

@jessica.ann: She was being SARCASTIC! Though I also grew up in a rented house and I want to murder people every day, so maybe I see Gawker's dumb point?
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1.1.1.
09/17/09

@Adah:

I chuckled upon reading that. I think of that as the boilerplate NYT "class label graf."

They did, however, try to provide a more rounded picture of him now that he's a suspect.

Also: He had SWIRLY TATTOOS! ONE ON EACH ARM!

Sometimes being a reporter sucks.
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1.1.1.
09/17/09

@jessica.ann:

I grew up in PUBLIC HOUSING!
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ampersandparade
09/18/09

@1.1.1.: You're typing this from death row aren't you?
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Belljar84
09/17/09

In reply to Cops Say the Lab Technician Was the Killer
I'm confused. I just read the NY Daily news article:
"State police officers impounded Clark's red Mustang yesterday. They also took about 150 pieces of forensic evidence from the Yale lab, where he mostly did janitorial work."
Was he a janitor or technician?
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Hunter Walker
09/17/09

@Belljar84: his official title was "animal technician"

[scripts.its.yale.edu]
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