Jury sees some evidence as murder trial continues

PALMER — Two guns, scads of photos and a pile of bullets — only one of which had been fired — were passed around the courtroom Friday as Sam Clark’s murder trial continued.

Clark is accused of firing a single shot that killed Dirk Fast at Latitude 62 in Talkeetna on Oct. 29, 2010.

Alaska State Troopers Sgt. Michelyn Manrique took the stand to put all of those items into evidence. She said Clark told troopers he shot Fast with one of the two pistols, a silver Springfield 1911 .45-caliber.

Prosecutor Michael Perry asked what conclusion she drew from all of the evidence.

“The conclusion that we drew was that Sam Clark killed Dirk Fast with one shot from a Springfield 1911,” she said. “There were no weapons on Dirk Fast and there were no weapons in his vehicle.”

On previous trial days, witnesses testified that Clark showed up at Latitude 62, took a seat at a table in the bar area and eventually had a seemingly low-key conversation with Fast. They both stood up, Clark fired a shot and Fast fell to the floor. Clark calmly strode from the room after saying something to the effect of, “he killed my family.”

Friday, Clark’s attorney, Jeff Bradley, asked Manrique about receipts she’d taken from Clark’s vehicle at the time of his arrest. What were they supposed to show? Were they supposed to show Clark was dangerous?

“Do you have reason to believe Mr. Clark purchased a trident? Like Neptune of the sea? Or was that chewing gum?” he asked.

“I’m guessing that’s chewing gum,” was Manrique’s eventual answer.

She said that the receipts helped to establish a timeline. Some people in Talkeetna had said they thought Clark was in Missouri or at the Canada/Montana border. But the receipts were dated Oct. 29, 2010.

“These show Mr. Clark was nowhere near the border,” Manrique said.

“It doesn’t show where he was the day before or a week before, just that he bought some gum and a screwdriver?” Bradley asked.

“That’s correct,” Manrique answered.

Bradley has been playing his cards close to his chest throughout much of the trial, declining to give specifics as to what kind of defense he intends to mount. But hints of what might be a possible defense keep popping up here and there. Perry asked Manrique about previous statements that Clark was concerned someone in Talkeetna had been murdered or raped.

“If there were any bodies or any rapes that had happened in Talkeetna, my unit, because we investigate homicide and sexual assault, we would have gotten those reports,” Manrique testified.

“Is there any conceivable way that that could have been going on?” Perry asked.

“No,” Manrique replied.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.