He's alive and well, and he's on his way to the Salt Lake County Jail.
Third District Judge Anne Stirba on Friday ordered James Bigler Clark, 48, to serve 60 days for faking his own death to avoid paying the last $1,115 of a fine for a previous criminal conviction.
The unusual situation began in 1997 when Clark was charged with driving under the influence and for concealed firearm violations. An October 1997 plea agreement allowed Clark to confess to the DUI in exchange for immunity on the weapons counts. Following the guilty plea, Clark was fined $1,300 and the guns were confiscated as evidence.
Four months and $185 later, however, Clark — pretending to be his own brother — submitted a false Idaho death certificate and filed a petition requesting the release of his three handguns. Clark was declared legally dead on Feb. 11, 1998, and the court wrote off his $1,115 in remaining debt.
A recent Davis County drunken driving charge, however, led to a court clerk's discovery of the fraud. The clerk was preparing Clark's criminal record for a sentencing judge when she noticed the defendant was legally dead. A subsequent investigation by Salt Lake detectives led to the filing of the charges by the district attorney's office.
Clark pleaded guilty in October to attempted tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed four other second- and third-degree felony charges of theft by deception.
At Friday's sentencing hearing, Clark called the false declaration of death a "moment of ignorance" and apologized to the court for his behavior.
Stirba acknowledged Clark's apology and recognized his efforts to make amends for the crime, specifically undergoing counseling and getting a full-time job. However, she condemned his actions as "a direct attack on the administration of justice."
In addition to the 60 days in jail, Clark was placed on 36 months of probation, fined $300 and ordered to complete an alcohol abuse evaluation.
E-mail: awelling@desnews.com