Jury Sentences Aggravated Robber to Life in Prison

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TX -- On Friday, February 28,2020, a jury empaneledin the 221st District Court, the Honorable Lisa Michalk, returned a verdict of a life sentence in prison for Defendant Marquis Clark, Jr., 22, for his role in a violent aggravated robbery of a clerk working at a Circle K store located on FM 1314 in Porter. on August 23. 2018. Prosecutors Taylor Teissier and Rob Freyer presented evidence that Clark and co defendants LaCharleS Craige, 20, Trenton Jackson 23, and Cameron Lucas,18 also robbed an adult bookstore, and sexually assaulted the clerk, 30 minutes later, in the vicinity of Beltway S and the Eastex Freeway in Houston.

Jurors heard evidence that during the second robbery, the clerk pushed the hold-up button behind the counter. and when officers began to arrive. Clark and his co defendants fled in the car owned by the security guard’s vehicle. Numerous officers from the Houston Police Department testified that Clark and the co defendants wrecked that vehicle after a pursuit reaching over 100 miles per hour, and they fled on foot in their effort to escape. The state also presented evidence that Craige, was arrested within minutes. and subsequently admitted to his involvement in both robberies, and implicated that Clark and the other co defendants as well. After conducting numerous interviews, detectives later discovered that this group was responsible for at least 25 additional aggravated robberies and another aggravated sexual assault, throughout Houston, Pasadena, Sugarland, Missouri City, and in the vicinity of FM 1960, where their victims of choice were employees of McDonald's, Subway, Shipley's Donuts, and convenience stores throughout the Houston area.

Assistant District Attorney Teissier presented evidence that co defendants Craige entered a plea of guilty in exchange for a sentence of 50 years in prison, Jackson entered a plea of guilty in exchange for a sentence of 40 years in prison, and Lucas received a sentence of 30 years in prison as part of a plea agreement with the State. Throughout this five-day trial, prosecutors presented evidence linking Clark to no fewer than 15 aggravated robberies and 2 sexual assaults, and he even shot at a McDonald's employee after she struck co defendant Jackson in the head with a coffee pot.

Assistant District Attorney Teissier noted that “we extend a real debt of gratitude to the HPD officers that arrived to the scene of the bookstore robbery, putting their safety at risk, to begin the sequence of events that led to the shutting down of Clark and his accomplices.' She and Assistant DA Freyer also commend the hard work of HPD Detectives Ken Nealy and Jeremy Curtis for their abilities in getting Clark, Lucas, and Jackson into custody and the subsequent obtaining of their confessions. We would also like to extend our thanks to Detective Brad Curtis ofthe Montgomery County Sheriff's Department, Special Agent Dominic Rosamilia of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and to the additional officers from HPD, Sugarland Police Department, Missouri City Police Department. Pasadena Police Department, and deputies from the Harris County Sheriff's Department, who contributed to this extensive investigation, testified on behalf of the State and the victims, and who stood up to a group of violent criminals, whose only desire was to terrorize innocent people just their jobs and supporting their families.