Lancaster no-show for murder trial captured. Will he stay locked up until trial?

A Lancaster fugitive, sought for almost two years since he didn’t appear in court for his trial on murder charges, has been caught in Maryland.

The lawyer for the captured suspect, Montrez Michael Clark, 28, says Clark maintains his innocence in the 2009 Lancaster shooting death of Lamario Ford.

Clark was arrested in March 2009 and charged in the murder of Ford. He was out on $30,000 bond from 2012 to 2016 because the case was never called for trial, records show.

Prosecutors set Clark’s murder trial for October 2016. But Clark never appeared in for court.

Clark disappeared when a co-defendant in the killing, expected in court at the same time as Clark, was gunned down days before the trial.

Detectives with a fugitive squad in Baltimore found Clark in June and arrested him, Baltimore Police Department officials said.

Clark has been extradited to Lancaster.

Randy Newman, Sixth Circuit Solicitor, said he plans to move forward with a murder trial against Clark.

After Clark fled in 2016, prosecutors tried without success several times to have Clark tried in his absence.

“Our position has not changed since this defendant did not show up for court,” Newman said. “We planned to try this murder case then, and we plan to try it now.”

Clark’s lawyer, Sixth Circuit Deputy Public Defender Mark Grier, said he was told by prosecutors Tuesday that the trial is tentatively set for September in Lancaster.

South Carolina court scheduling shows Lancaster County holding criminal court the week of Sept. 17 with Sixth Circuit Judge Brian Gibbons presiding.

Grier said his client is steadfast in claiming not to be connected to Ford’s death.

Ford was beaten and shot inside a Cunningham Street home in Lancaster in March 2009.

The trial in September will be about the murder evidence, not the two years during which Clark was gone, Grier said.

“Our position remains that my client was not responsible for the death of Mr. Ford,” Grier said Tuesday.

Five people were charged with murder in the killing of Ford.

Three other co-defendants pleaded guilty to a reduced charged of lynching, court records show.

The fifth co-defendant, Yusuf Abdus-Salaam, 32, of Lancaster, was out on bond. He was set for court in late October 2016 as part of the murder case. Abdus-Salaam was gunned down outside a home in Lancaster days before the court date .

Clark remains at the Lancaster County jail without bond, said Doug Barfield, spokesman for the Lancaster County Sheriff’s office.

Newman said any attempt by Clark to ask for bond before trial after would be vehemently opposed by prosecutors.

An investigation by The Herald showed Clark had been arrested six times between his release on bond in 2012 and his trial date in October 2016.

Magistrates released Clark each time on bond for other charges, even though Clark still faced an unresolved murder charge.

Clark also was the victim of a shooting while out on bond, according to Grier and police records.

Grier said he does not expect Clark to ask for a bond hearing before trial.

This story was originally published July 25, 2018 at 11:31 AM.