ST. FRANCISVILLE (AP) — Ten years after five inmates serving life sentences for murder were accused of killing a state prison guard, the first trial has been scheduled.Jury selection is tentatively scheduled to begin July 6 in Covington for Jeffrey Cameron Clark, and jurors will hear the trial in St. Francisville, retired District Judge Dennis J. Waldron of New Orleans said Friday.Prosecutors want death sentences for Clark, David Mathis, Robert G. Carley, Barry S. Edge and David Brown.All are accused of beating and stabbing Capt. David C. Knapps while trying to escape from the Louisiana State Penitentiary on Dec. 28, 1999.Inmates took two other officers hostage. A riot-control team shot and killed a sixth inmate during the hostage rescue.Waldron was appointed to the case after 20th Judicial District Judge George H. Ware Jr. said the length of the trials would make it impossible for him to maintain his regular docket in the two-judge district.Clark gave a half-smile when Jefferson Parish Assistant District Attorney Tommy Block announced that he would be tried first.—-Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at [email protected]
10 years after prison guard killed, first trial set
By The Associated Press
February 7, 2010