An accomplice in the 2012 shooting death of a 43-year-old Hazel Dell man was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison after agreeing to a plea deal with prosecutors.
Darrell “Chris” Fry, 35, entered a Newton plea to second-degree manslaughter in which he acknowledged that a jury could find him guilty of the original charge of first-degree murder. He had been scheduled to go to trial Monday in Clark County Superior Court.
Kirk Michael Hernandez Sr., 44, is suspected of shooting and killing Matthew Michael Clark on Oct. 1, 2012, because of a dispute over some stolen firearms. Hernandez was expected to testify at trial that Fry helped plan the crime and drove Hernandez to Clark’s house on the day of the homicide.
“Mr. Fry knows that he is in part responsible for Mr. Clark’s death by giving Mr. Hernandez a ride there, but he is not acknowledging he planned the crime,” said Fry’s attorney, Bob Yoseph.
Deputy Prosecutor Michael Vaughn said proving the case against Fry was going to be “a very difficult task.”
“Hernandez was the primary witness,” Vaughn said. “That was one of the significant proof issues as far as Fry’s case. The primary witness would have been a co-defendant who was the one who shot the victim, and it’s possible that a jury might not have found him credible.”
There also were concerns that other witnesses who come from Hazel Dell’s drug subculture would not appear credible to the jury.
“The plea agreement reflects all of the hurdles and proof issues the state would have had to overcome and reflects Fry’s role as an accomplice and Hernandez’s role as the principal,” Vaughn said.
Hernandez’s trial is scheduled for Dec. 8.
According to court documents, Hernandez previously had stolen five firearms and a police badge from the home of a retired sheriff’s deputy who lives in Battle Ground.
“Kirk Hernandez Sr. said he later took five of the stolen firearms from that burglary to Matt ‘Splat’ Clark’s house, and said Matt ended up stealing these instead of selling them for Kirk,” according to the affidavit.
At about 6 a.m. on the day of the homicide, the two defendants allegedly went to Clark’s home at 9610 N.E. 25th Ave. to settle the debt. They attacked Clark, knocking him to the ground.
“Kirk said somehow his revolver came out of his pocket and, as he and Matt struggled for the revolver, it went off two or three times,” according to a probable cause affidavit by Clark County sheriff’s Detective Kevin Harper.
The autopsy showed Clark had two gunshot wounds and lacerations all over his body, court documents said.
“We understand that we will never know the exact sequence of events that led to our brother’s death, but we know Mr. Fry took Mr. Hernandez to Matt’s house for a confrontation,” Clark’s sister said Thursday. She said Fry also failed to call for help for her brother.
During his sentencing hearing Thursday, Fry turned to look at Clark’s family and gave his condolences.
“I’m very sorry for Matt’s death. It weighs heavy on my heart,” he said.
He also thanked his family and church for supporting him and said he has goals to finish his education.
“I’m going to help others out with their addictions,” he said.
Judge Scott Collier said he had noticed a change in Fry’s appearance since his initial arrest in 2012.
“You started in this process in the meth subculture world you were running in,” Collier said. “You broke that because you were sober for 385 days (while in jail).”
Collier told him that staying off drugs would be imperative to staying out of prison in the future.
“I’m hoping you can continue this sobriety and learn from this,” the judge said.
