Jury hears from Timmy Clark's mother in penalty phase

"I want to tell you about Timmy. He was a good kid."

With those words, Bette Clark let flow three years of bottled emotion, a 20-minute eulogy of what-ifs and whys that left a Common Pleas Court jury - and a veteran homicide prosecutor - in tears.

Clark, 51, was the first prosecution witness Tuesday in the start of the death-penalty hearing for Gerald Drummond and Robert McDowell, the Tacony men found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2007 racially tinged shootings of Clark's 15-year-old son and 27-year-old family friend Damien Holloway.

After a two-week holiday break, the jury returned to the Criminal Justice Center to decide if the two should be executed by lethal injection or sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole.

According to testimony, Drummond had a grudge against Holloway because of race - Drummond, 26, and McDowell, 28, are white, Holloway was black - and because Holloway had separated from Drummond's sister, with whom he had a child.

The pair spotted Holloway and Clark, who was white, about 2:20 a.m. July 13, 2007, as they walked to Clark's home from a convenience store. Clark worked for Holloway's lawn-cutting business, and Holloway was then living with Clark's family.

The prosecution said Drummond ordered Holloway and Clark to kneel on the sidewalk, hands behind their heads, and told McDowell to shoot them.

When McDowell said he could not do it, the prosecution said, Drummond grabbed the revolver and shot each in the head.

The gun was never found, and no blood or DNA linked Drummond or McDowell to the killings. Instead, the prosecution relied on neighborhood friends and associates who reluctantly testified that both men had described the shootings in detail.

Defense attorney William L. Bowe, for Drummond, told jurors in an opening statement that they would hear horrific details about Drummond's childhood, how he was raised by a mother who was mentally ill and a crack cocaine addict and a father and stepfather who beat and abused him.

Bowe said he hoped the testimony would tap into whatever store of sympathy - and mercy - the jurors might have and persuade them to spare Drummond's life.

"Gerald Drummond will die in prison," Bowe said. "The only question is when and how."

McDowell's attorney, Gary Server, urged the jury to consider each man's fate individually, arguing that the jurors' verdict meant they believed McDowell did not pull the trigger.

Outside court, relatives of both men lobbied reporters, insisting that they were innocent and that the jury was swayed by corrupt, drug-addicted witnesses.

Tuesday, however, belonged to Clark, who tried to describe for the jury the impact of the killing of the youngest of her three sons.

Clark recalled Timmy as a "homebody" who loved teasing his older brothers, having friends over for weekly sleepovers, and dreaming of becoming quarterback of Lincoln High's football team.

Yet he was also serious, Clark continued. He wanted to become a mechanic, open a shop with a friend, get married, and have four children.

"I mean, how many teenage boys talk about having four children?" Clark asked.

Mostly, however, she spoke of how she was haunted by his death: Was he scared before he was shot? What were his last thoughts? Did he know she loved him?

"The pain is so unbearable," she sobbed. "I miss my son, my baby, my baby boy. That's all he'll ever be."

As she finished, eight jurors were openly weeping with her.

"Your honor, may I take a minute?" Assistant District Attorney Carlos Vega asked Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes.

It seemed as if Vega wanted to give Clark a chance to compose herself. But Vega himself turned and walked out of the courtroom, tears welling in his eyes, lower lip quivering. When he returned, Vega struggled several times to control his voice.

Both defense attorneys rose to offer their condolences to Clark. Neither had any questions for her.

Drummond spent most of the hearing, forehead in his hands, looking at the floor. McDowell usually stared straight ahead, occasionally stealing a glance around the courtroom.

Earlier in the day, both men rejected an offer from Vega to withdraw the threat of the death penalty if they waived all appeal rights.

Hughes had urged both to seriously consider the offer and warned that, in her experience, a jury is much more likely to deliver a death sentence when the victim is a child.

"Timmy Clark," she said, "was a baby."