Mother who smothered son ‘ convicted at birth,’ expert says
Christian Clark, the woman who smothered her 17- month- old and recorded images of the crime to send to the boy’s father, was born to two drug- addicted parents and spent the first years of her life on the streets, in crack houses and homeless shelters.
“Christian was convicted at birth,” said Jennifer Wynn, a mitigation specialist and criminal justice professor at City University of New York. “She had a horrendous childhood.”
Ms. Wynn testified Thursday at the sentencing hearing for Clark, who in April pleaded no contest to first- degree murder for the death of her son, Andre Price III, on Nov. 1, 2016. The boy’s father, Andre Price Jr., is scheduled for sentencing July 29 on two counts of endangering the welfare of children.
Clark, 24, will serve a mandatory prison term of life without parole for killing her son. Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge
Edward J. Borkowski added an additional seven to 14 years for Clark’s attempt to kill her 2- year- old daughter.
Police said Clark stomped and stepped on her son’s head in September 2016 and sent Price Jr. photographs and videos that depicted her abusing their children over a period of months. Then throughout the evening of Nov. 1, 2016, Clark texted Price Jr. telling him she was going to kill both children and attempted to smother them both before killing her son.
Ms. Wynn told the court she spent 20 hours interviewing the defendant, as well as hours more piecing together the woman’s life through interviews with her mother, father and brother; reading more than 1,700 pages of text messages between Clark and Price Jr.; and reviewing medical, school and Children, Youth & Family records.
As a child, Clark suffered most at the hands of her mother, Ms. Wynn said, noting that the woman choked her daughter on at least 20 separate occasions. The mother accused Clark of engaging in “black magic.”
As an example of the abuse Clark received, Ms. Wynn described an incident in which the young Clark was in the passenger seat of a car with her mother when the woman back- handed the girl with no warning. Clark had touched her nose, her mother told her then, which she took to be a sign that she was conspiring with her father.
The parents split up when Clark was 6.
“Christian has a scar today on her neck from where her mother’s rings bit into her neck,” Ms. Wynn said.
Because of Clark’s childhood, the witness continued, she was at risk for violence and had limited coping skills. She became involved with Price Jr. when she was 15.
“He was physically and emotional abusive,” Ms. Wynn said.
He, too, choked Clark, she continued, approximately 100 times.
Clark knew she was unfit to be a parent, Ms. Wynn said, and she told Price Jr. But he told her without kids, he would leave.
“Children who are abused do not grow up healthy, and they, certainly, don’t grow up to be good parents,” Ms. Wynn said.
In the six months leading up to the boy’s death, Clark suffered migraines and bleeding and could not eat, the witness continued. She tried to quell the pain with marijuana but would sometimes be bedridden. While Clark weighs 170 pounds now, at the time of the crime, she weighed 115.
Referring to the thousands of text messages between Clark and Price Jr., Ms. Wynn said she believed Clark was crying out for help, “begging him to prevent her from hurting herself and her children.
“It’s absolutely astounding to me he would see this and not do anything about it. There were times she would hurt the children” to provoke him to try to kill her.
Despite not wanting to have children, Ms. Wynn said Clark tried to care for her son, whom she called “Bop,” and daughter.
“She loved her children and tried very hard to be the best mother she could,” Ms. Wynn said. “In all of my interviews with her, she spoke with tremendous regret, remorse and sadness.”
Clark’s father, Jeffrey Lee Clark, also spoke at sentencing, repeatedly apologizing for his actions when she was a young child and for not being around enough after he divorced her mother.
“I need you to know that the failure on your part does not rest on your shoulders alone,” he said. “The sad thing is, you deserved better than to be brought into this world by two drug- addicted parents.
“Your entire childhood was that of a ‘ Mommy Dearest’ movie. Every selfish act by both me and your mother have gotten us to this point.”
Jeffrey Clark, who has a long criminal history, including robbery and sexual abuse of a minor, said that when his daughter was 9 or 10, she wrote a note to God, asking why he allowed her mother to abuse her.
“I held that letter for weeks and prayed,” her father said, before he ultimately threw it away. “I failed you that day, and many more days to come. I know that God sent my little girl to her daddy for help, and I did nothing.”
Clark, who was diagnosed at the Allegheny County Jail with bipolar disorder, spoke on her own behalf at sentencing, saying that she has no memory of the night her son died.
“There are absolutely no excuses,” she said. “There is no moment of the day that I am not overcome by remorse, regret and sadness.”
Clark, who read from a yellow legal pad, said that despite the video evidence showing her crimes, there are also photos of hundreds of loving moments she shared with her children.
From prison, Clark said, she hopes to teach others about postpartum depression and psychosis and to advocate for others to get help.
“I will continue to better myself in his honor,” she said. “I am not the monster everyone has made me out to be.
“I love my kids more than I’ve ever loved anyone else. I always have, and I always will.”