Ray Clark, Alleged Killer of Annie Le, Could Spend Life Behind Bars If Convicted

Sept. 18, 2009 — -- A few miles from where Ray Clark sits in prison, 10 men await execution on Connecticut's death row.

The grim shadow of death row and the company of some of the nation's toughest criminals is hardly something that Clark, who before he was charged with killing Yale grad student Annie Le had barely a spot on his record, could have ever considered.

But his arraignment on murder charges has changed Clark's life forever. Instead of caring for lab mice at Yale and playing softball in games after work, he sits in a cell at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution.

And one day if he's found guilty, he could be transferred to a cellblock at the Northern Correctional Institution, the home of Connecticut's death row.

Clark entered no plea at his appearance in court Thursday, and was sent to McDougall-Walker, a prison for the state's high and maximum security inmates.

As is common with high-profile inmates, Clark likely spent his first night behind bars in a separate area of the prison, commonly called a pretrial holding cell,f or his own safety, according to Ed Bales at the Federal Prison Consultants LLC.

"He's with killers and rapists and murderers and his lifestyle over the past 24 hours has changed completely," said Bales. "But these people don't have access to Clark right now.",Under Connecticut law, Clark has 60 days from the day of his arrest to waive his right to a probable cause hearing, which is required in order to stand trial for a crime such as murder, which is punishable by death or life imprisonment.

It would be at the probable cause hearing, according to Timothy Everett, a professor of law at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where a prosecutor would argue for the charge to be upgraded to capital murder, the only charge in the state for which the death penalty can be invoked.