Spending 43 years in prison for murdering his sister-in-law is not an appropriate sentence despite a jury conviction, Philip Clark said Monday in court.
Clark, 62, was convicted Nov. 25, 2019, of murdering 49-year-old Renee Henneberry Clark. He was back in Penobscot County Superior Court Monday to argue that he had ineffective counsel during his jury trial.
While Clark said he liked his attorneys, David Bate and Logan Perkins, the case was not the best they could have presented, because he was convicted, Clark testified.
Clark said Monday he wanted to be acquitted during the jury trial. He said he was hoping for that after he outlined how he walked to the neighboring apartment and shot Henneberry Clark 10 times on July 11, 2018.
She was killed in the bedroom of her Hampden apartment, which adjoined Clark’s home. Henneberry Clark’s body was found two days later.
Clark was sentenced to 43 years in prison on Jan. 7, 2020.
The hearing over alleged ineffectiveness of counsel follows a 2021 ruling from the Maine Supreme Judicial Court that affirmed Clark’s conviction, despite his allegations that the trial court failed to include necessary jury instructions.
Clark and his new attorney, David Paris, alleged the trial lawyers were ineffective by sticking with an “adequate provocation defense” despite knowing the jury was likely not going to be told about that defense.
When police went to arrest Clark, he confessed to killing Henneberry Clark. Both Bate and Perkins testified there were not really any other viable defense choices because that video confession was allowed during the trial.
In the hours before the shooting, Clark was beaten by Anthony Cipolle, a now-defrocked Catholic priest, while Henneberry Clark was present. The priest had helped her leave her husband, Frank Clark. Frank Clark is Philip Clark’s brother.
“My actions were a direct result of [Henneberry Clark and Cipolle’s] actions,” Clark said.
There was a two-week multi-prong attempt to deprive Clark of his livelihood, which ended with the assault by Cipolle, Perkins said. Clark alleged Henneberry Clark had stolen his carpentry tools, which she denied. The tools were later found in a house in Etna that Henneberry Clark had rented in May 2018, and where Cipolle rented a room from her.
“The indignity of having a guy wearing a priest’s collar kick you in the ribs is pretty substantial,” Perkins said.
Clark showered after the beating, which left him with a broken rib and concussion. After the shower, he heard noises at Henneberry Clark’s apartment, and went to try to “find out why they were back.”
He grabbed his pistol and clip he keeps on a nightstand before walking over. When he arrived, only Henneberry Clark was present and she started laughing, Clark said.
“I said, ‘What? You think it’s funny that your boyfriend beat the hell out of me?’” Clark said. “She said, ‘No, I think it’s hilarious.’”
Clark said he then blacked out for about five minutes. However, he also testified about his memories of shooting his sister-in-law.
“I emptied one clip and went halfway through the other,” Clark said.
“So you remember specifically doing one whole clip and then a part of another,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Bogue asked in response.
“Yes, because the pistol didn’t lock open,” Clark responded. “I know that because the pistol was still cocked.”
Bogue and Clark then walked through the actions Clark took after, including going to sleep in his apartment before returning the next day. He started cleaning up the space, Clark said.
When asked if he wrapped Henneberry Clark in plastic, he responded indigently, saying that he pulled her onto the piece of plastic and then folded it over her.
Shooting Henneberry Clark 10 times was a reaction, not a decision, Clark said.
If the circumstances were different and Clark had been left alone he wouldn’t be in court, he said.
“All I wanted to do was to be left alone, right?” Clark said.
Bate and Perkins testified multiple times during Monday’s hearing that they believe they choose the best defense possible for Clark. Their hope was the jury would return a manslaughter conviction instead of murder.
“I think [Bate] thought he was doing the best thing for me,” Clark said.
It will be several months before the judge issues an opinion from the hearing.
Clark is incarcerated at the Maine State Prison. His earliest release date is Aug. 30, 2055.
