Judge orders release of far-right extremist in gun case

The FBI said Clark is a self-described white nationalist who followed Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect Robert Bowers on the Gab social media platform

• By Michael Kunzelman/The Associated Press

(Washington) — A federal judge on Friday ordered the immediate release of a man whose relatives reported concerns about his behavior and far-right extremist rhetoric after last year’s Pittsburgh synagogue massacre.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly in Washington, D.C., sentenced 31-year-old Jeffrey Clark to the 10 months he already has served in jail since his arrest by the FBI on gun charges. The judge also ordered three years of supervised release for Clark, who told the judge that prison has changed his worldview for the better.

“What I’ve realized is that my words do, in fact, have consequences,” said Clark, a Washington resident.

The FBI said Clark is a self-described white nationalist who followed Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect Robert Bowers on the Gab social media platform and referred to him as a “hero” in a post after the October shooting. Bowers spewed anti-Semitic hatred on his Gab account before killing 11 people and wounding seven inside the synagogue, authorities said.

Clark was arrested after relatives called the FBI on Nov. 2 to report their concerns that he could be a danger to himself or others. They told FBI agents that Clark became “really riled up” after his younger brother, Edward, shot and killed himself within hours of the Pittsburgh attack.

Federal prosecutors had recommended a 10-month prison sentence followed by three years of supervised release. Sentencing guidelines called for a prison term ranging from 10 to 16 months. Clark’s attorney had asked for a sentence of time served, followed by two years of supervised release.

Clark had faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in July to illegal possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of a controlled substance. At the time of his arrest, Clark acknowledged that he had possessed a properly registered handgun while regularly smoking marijuana, according to his attorney.

When FBI arrested Clark on Nov. 9 and searched his home, they found flyers from a neo-Nazi organization, boxes of ammunition, body armor, a rope noose hanging above his bed and a Nazi flag containing the handwritten inscription “Hail Victory,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo.

“After the death of Edward Clark, Jeffrey Clark became more outspoken about his radical views, expressing them openly to his family members who were in the area following Edward Clark’s death,” an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit. “During these conversations, Jeffrey Clark defended Robert Bowers’ killings at the Tree-of-Life Synagogue. Jeffrey Clark also stated that he and Edward Clark had both fantasized about killing ‘Jews and blacks.’”

The relatives also believed 23-year-old Edward Clark may have been planning to carry out an “act of violence” the day before he went to Theodore Roosevelt Island in the nation’s capital and killed himself, the agent wrote. Clark’s plea agreement says a “post-indictment” investigation by federal authorities found no evidence that he had advance knowledge of the synagogue attack or that he was planning an “independent attack against similar targets” in Washington.

David Bos, Clark’s attorney, said jail time coupled with Edward Clark’s suicide has prompted his client to “re-evaluate many of the choices he has made.”

“Mr. Clark understands he has reached a significant crossroad in his young life. He can’t escape his past but he has the motivation and support for a brighter future,” Bos wrote in a court filing Monday.

Clark’s online postings, statements, and items found inside his home show he has “a deep-rooted hatred for certain minorities and a penchant for glorifying violence,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Cummings wrote in the government’s sentencing memo.

“Added to the inherently dangerous combination of firearms and drugs, the defendant’s then-held views plainly enhanced his potential danger to the community,” Cummings added.

Bos said there is no evidence that Clark possessed the handgun “for any purpose other than self-protection.”

Clark was held in protective custody throughout his 10-month detention.

“By all accounts, Mr. Clark has been a model detainee,” wrote Bos, who said Clark intends to live with his father in Washington after his release.