Clark

Clark

Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

WILKES-BARRE — Jury selection is scheduled Friday in the homicide trial of Milton Clark, accused in the death of his nephew who died two weeks after being stabbed in the heart nearly four years ago.

Whether the trial will take place remains unknown.

Luzerne County District Attorney Samuel Sanguedolce and assistant district attorneys James McMonagle, Drew McLaughlin and Carly Hislop filed an appeal with the state Superior Court on Jan. 20 challenging a decision by Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. that allowed Clark, 62, to withdraw his guilty plea to third-degree murder but mentally ill.

Clark pled guilty to the charge on Aug. 26. When he appeared to be sentenced Oct. 12, his attorneys, Maura A. Tunis and William J. Watt III, said he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea claiming he was innocent.

Sklarosky granted the request Nov. 17, scheduling jury selection Friday with the trial to commence Monday.

Wilkes-Barre police allege Clark stabbed his nephew, Tarese Rahjaan Previlon, 17, during a fight inside their Holland Street residence on April 23, 2019. Previlon died two weeks after the fight. An autopsy revealed Previlon died from a stab wound to his heart.

Court records say Clark was peeping on the boy’s mother taking a bath. The woman screamed when she noticed Clark and yelled for her son to get Clark out of the house, resulting in the fight, court records say.

Prosecutors are challenging Sklarosky’s decision to allow Clark to withdraw his third-degree murder but mentally ill plea, saying a bare assertion of innocence is not sufficient after entering a guilty plea and signing a guilty plea colloquy.