Execution Report: Jack Clark

Jack Wade Clark, 37, was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday, 9 January 2001, in Huntsville, Texas for the rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman.

In October 1989, Clark, then 26, spotted Melisa Ann Garcia at a telephone booth. He asked her for a light for his cigarette, then went around a corner and hid. After she finished her call, walked by him. As she passed, Clark stabbed her in the shoulder, then forced her into her car. She drove them to an abandoned area, where Clark raped her repeatedly then stabbed her twice through the heart.

Afterward, Clark led police to Garcia's body, telling them he spotted it in some tall weeds while making a U-turn on a highway. Based on his description of the scene, police immediately suspected him. He was arrested a few weeks later, and confessed.

At his trial, one of Clark's fellow inmates at the county jail testified that Clark had bragged to him about Garcia's rape and murder. Other testimony showed that Clark had a history of abusing his children and assaulting and threatening relatives and neighbors. In jail, he made weapons and fought with other inmates.

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