A man has pleaded guilty to killing a man over an argument about where the victim could park his trailer on a property in Eatonville.
Hobert Wayne Clark, 27, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree assault and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. Clark changed his plea to guilty Thursday two days after his trial began in Pierce County Superior Court.
A second count of second-degree murder and a second-degree assault charge were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
Clark is to be sentenced Dec. 3. Prosecutors will recommend to the judge that Clark spend 26 years in prison for his murder charge while serving time concurrently for his other charges, according to court filings.
He pleaded guilty to shooting and killing 50-year-old Robert Warner in July 2019, just over a month after Clark was released from prison. Clark’s girlfriend at the time of the killing, Christina Kitchens, was charged as a co-defendant for allegedly helping to hide the shotgun used to kill Warner.
Kitchens pleaded guilty in November 2019 to first-degree rendering criminal assistance.
After Clark was released from prison, he worked as landlord for his parents’ two-acre parcel in the 4600 block of 350th Street East, The News Tribune previously reported. One of Clark’s friends also helped oversee the people living there.
Through Clark’s friend, Warner’s girlfriend arranged for herself, her son and Warner to stay on the property temporarily and park their trailer there, according to the declaration for determination of probable cause.
Upset by this, Clark allegedly asked the group to leave. Within a couple of days, the group moved their trailer off the property to land close by, which Clark’s parents didn’t own.
Clark visited the spot the group moved to and was still angry about their presence, prosecutors wrote in the probable cause statement. Again, he told them to leave.
The group began searching for a new place to move, but when Clark returned July 28 and found them still there, the dispute turned deadly.
According to charging papers, Clark met with his friend on the property about 5 p.m. that day and told him he was angry the group was still on the neighboring property. He allegedly took a shotgun from his motorcycle and said something like, “They got to be taught a lesson.”
While Clark and his friend walked toward where the group was parked, Clark allegedly fired the shotgun near his friend. Prosecutors wrote that Clark’s friend “froze” and was afraid he was going to be killed.
Clark continued toward the trailer, where Warner’s girlfriend’s son was sitting outside with his dog. According to the probable cause statement, Clark pointed the shotgun at the son, walked toward him and said, “You think this is a game?”
Then, Warner came out from the trailer and tackled Clark. He was shot in the chest and died at the scene. Clark left on his motorcycle before deputies arrived about 5:15 p.m.
Clark was arrested several days later after being spotted in a vehicle.
A group of Warner’s family and friends appeared at Hobert’s arraignment in August 2019. Warner’s sister, Schelly Selvar, called her brother a loving and kind man who didn’t deserve what happened to him.
In a victim statement submitted to the court, Selvar said the night Warner was killed was the worst night of her family’s life and asked the judge for justice in his ruling.
“Teach this person a lesson,” Selvar wrote in the statement. “Remind him that when you take a man’s life and then try and negotiate your way out of the American justice system that it’s not going to happen this time.”