DANVILLE – Former NBA player Keon Clark testified Friday that he started drinking alcohol in high school. By the time he was playing professional ball, he was drinking a half pint to a pint of gin a day.
"I never played a game sober, unfortunately," said the 32-year-old Danville man, who admitted he's an alcoholic.
The testimony came at a hearing at which a Vermilion County judge threw out Clark's 2 1/2-year prison sentence for not having a firearm owner's identification card, possession of a controlled substance and DUI.
Circuit Judge Michael Clary ordered that Clark get a new sentencing hearing, since Clark – who was sentenced on those charges in absentia on Oct. 10 – did not have legal representation at that hearing.
"A defendant has a right (to legal representation) at every stage of proceedings, unless they waive that right. ... There's no waiver by this defendant to not have a lawyer," Clary said. If he decided not to vacate the original sentence, the judge added, his decision likely would be overturned by the appellate court.
A date for the new sentencing hearing has not been set yet.
Clark remains behind bars at the Vermilion County Jail. He's scheduled to be back in court on Monday for six other felony cases and two traffic cases, though as of late Friday morning, he still had not found a lawyer to represent him.
The decision was the latest twist in Clark's well-publicized legal saga, which has included multiple arrests for DUI and other charges in Vermilion and Champaign counties since September 2005, firing an attorney in May and collapsing because of an apparent seizure before a sentencing hearing in Champaign County in September.
Later in September, Clark was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for a felony charge of driving on a suspended license in Champaign County. Though his attorney was present, Clark failed to appear for that hearing and was sentenced in absentia.
On Oct. 18, Clark was arrested by U.S. Marshals on a bus heading out of Houston. According to court documents, he had been in Texas at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic.
On Friday, Clary was to hear arguments on a motion to reconsider Clark's sentences in the Vermilion and Champaign County cases, which, if approved, would have lengthened Clark's sentence from 2 1/2 to 5 years.
Prosecutors planned to argue that Illinois law states that if a person commits a separate felony while on a pretrial release in another case, the sentences shall be served consecutively regardless of the order in which they were handed down. Clark was arrested and charged in the Champaign County case while he was out on bond in the Vermilion County case.
But before those arguments were heard, Tom Mellen – Clark's lawyer for the sentencing issue – asked Clary to reconsider the sentence. "The Illinois Supreme Court ... mandates an attorney be present," Mellen said, citing a case. "There was no attorney present at sentencing."
Mellen, who hopes to get Clark probation, also argued that Clark's 12-year battle with alcoholism was out of his control. "He was finally facing his problems in Texas," the attorney said.
On the stand, Clark said the drinking that he started in high school progressed when he left Danville to play basketball at junior college and then at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. It didn't help being in "the city of sin," he said.
After he was drafted in the NBA, he started drinking at games during halftime. "It just never stopped," he said.
After leaving professional ball, he spent much of his time drinking and playing golf. His drinking caused him to black out every day.
Clark said an ex-coach helped persuade him to seek treatment for alcoholism, depression and anger issues. In October, he entered a 90-day program at Extended Aftercare Inc., a rehabilitation center in Houston.
During his 2 1/2-week wait for admission to the program, Clark admitted to still "having his beer goggles on," meaning he hadn't fully acknowledged he had a drinking problem. He added that while he was in a three-day detox program in a hospital, he drank four beers that he had sneaked into his bag.
Clark told Mellen that he wasn't aware of his Oct. 10 sentencing hearing "because I had so many court dates." When he found out about it after talking to relatives back home, who attended, he tried to get the center's director, Gus Gerard, to fax the court a letter about his whereabouts.
Clark added that Gerard discouraged him from leaving the center. "He told me it would be detrimental to my recovery," he said.
Under questioning from Vermilion County Assistant State's Attorney Sandy Lawlyes, Clark admitted he failed to appear for his sentencing hearing in Champaign County because he was drunk. He also acknowledged being aware of sentencing dates for the Vermilion County case, and not having permission to leave the state, even to attend rehab.
Original article source: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2007/12/15/clarks_prison_term_tossed
