Memphis Man Receives Over 76 Years In Prison For Carjacking, Assaulting Federal Officers, And Firearms Violations

Memphis, TN – United States Attorney Edward L. Stanton III announced that on Friday, May 17, 2013, United States District Judge Thomas B. Russell sentenced Christopher John Clark, 35, to a total sentence of 919 months, or over 76 years, in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

On March 18, 2008, a federal grand jury returned a 12 count indictment charging Clark with multiple criminal acts, including carjacking, assault, and firearms violations. On November 8, 2012, after a four-day jury trial, Clark was convicted on all 12 felony counts, including interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle, being a fugitive in possession of a firearm, being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm, three counts of carjacking, three counts of assaulting federal officers, and three counts of carrying and using a firearm during a crime of violence.

According to evidence presented at trial, in September 2006, Clark fled to Memphis in a stolen BMW to avoid prosecution in Alabama. Once in Memphis, Clark committed multiple armed carjackings, committed a home invasion robbery threatening two people at gunpoint, and repeatedly swerved at officers as he led them on a lengthy high speed chase through the streets of Memphis, driving off from his final carjacking with the victim’s mother in the front seat of the car. The evidence against Clark included video footage of the chase, shot by a news crew in a helicopter, during which Clark assaulted multiple law enforcement officers with a vehicle, carjacked an automobile with a passenger inside, attempted to escape in the automobile, and when surrounded by police, pointed a gun at an officer and then attempted to escape on foot.

The case was investigated by Detective Milton Gonzales with the Memphis Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Lawrence Webber on behalf of the government.

This case was part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative, which encourages federal, state, and local agencies to cooperate in a unified “team effort” against gun crime, targeting repeat offenders who continually plague their communities.