Photo: Mobile Patrol
Jennie Clark has been charged with second-degree murder for the July 4 death of her husband, 43-year-old Matthew Clark, theDemocrat and Chroniclereports.
According to authorities, on the morning of July 4, Clark was driving her family home when she drove across the road and crashed her car into a utility pole. The crash killed Matthew Clark but left the couple’s three children, who were sitting in the backseat, unharmed.
“The defendant can be heard threatening everyone in the car that she was going to run the vehicle into a tree. She can be heard saying, ‘Are you ready to die, do you want to die?'” Monroe County Assistant District Attorney Amanda Balling said,WHEC reports.
According to court documents, Clark was driving “in an intoxicated condition,” theDemocrat and Chroniclereports.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Prosecutors say this wasn’t the first time Clark threatened her family. She had allegedly made similar remarks about two weeks earlier.
“It’s a tragedy that was 100 percent avoidable,” Balling said Monday,WHAM reports. “And within a matter of minutes, three children’s lives were changed forever. It’s a terrible, terrible tragedy.”
However, Clark’s attorney argued there could be more to the story.
“The words the D.A. used today in court, certainly I’d have to warn everyone not to rush to judgement,” Joe D’Amelio said, according to the station. “Although you’ve heard words, you don’t know the context the words were spoken.”
“I feel as though it’s an accident,” he continued. “I think it’s a horrible set of circumstances. It’s a terrible optic.”
Clark has been charged with additional felony counts, including three counts of first-degree reckless endangerment and three counts of aggravated driving while intoxicated, as well as several misdemeanors. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Her bail was set at $200,000 cash. She remains behind bars in Monroe County jail, online jail records state. According to WHAM, she has been forbidden from having any contact with her children, even if she is released from jail.
source: people.com
