It's signed "Willie D. Clark." At the bottom are the words "death by dishonor," which is a threat to those who snitch, and "Boss Moneyz." Clark has the words "BOSS MONEY" tattooed across the top of his back.
Who turned it in: A former Compton, California, Crip named Marquise Harris who goes by the nickname "Gangster Sin" and has a rap sheet beginning in 1991 that includes burglary, selling drugs and threatening someone with a deadly weapon. Harris, who was housed in the same federal detention unit as Clark and Hicks in 2007 and 2008, turned the letter over to the Rocky Mountain News, which published a story about it in May 2008. The Rocky then connected Harris with federal and state prosecutors.
Kataina "Markie" Jackson-Keeling decided to go to jail rather than testify at Willie Clark's trial.
Mario Anderson also opted for jail rather than testify at Willie Clark's trial.
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Harris said he intercepted the letter in the prison law library. Passing letters via law books is common in prison, he said, and Hicks had asked him to pick up a letter from Clark because Hicks wasn't going to the law library that day. Harris said he read the letter and realized it pertained to the Williams murder. "I recognized what was going on with the situation with this case and whatever, and I thought the letter might be linked to some possible evidence in the matter," Harris said. After reading the letter, he said he photocopied it and gave the original to Hicks. He kept the copy for himself.
But he didn't immediately turn it over to the police. "I kept the letter concealed because I knew if I released the information there [in prison], my life would be in jeopardy," he said. "When I got out of incarceration, I contacted the police department several times and I didn't receive any response back." Harris said he also called the head of security for the Broncos and asked to be put in touch with the police detectives working the case. But again, he said he never heard back. Eventually, Harris said, he called the Rocky Mountain News. "I didn't feel I was getting an appropriate response from law enforcement, so I contacted the media," he said.
Why the jury might not have believed him: Although he denied it at trial, Harris was after the $100,000 in reward money offered by the Broncos for clues in solving Williams's murder — and still is. The police haven't decided yet who will get that money. He also asked for payment from the Rocky Mountain News, which refused.
The letter itself is also suspect. The signature is upside down, and some of the lines of text are cut off at the bottom. There are irregular gaps between the lines, and the sentences don't make sense. On the stand, defense attorney Hutt accused Harris of stealing a bunch of Clark's letters, cutting them up and then pasting certain bits together to create a confession. Harris denied it.
Harris also has a history of lying to the police. "If you're asking about whether I use aliases, yes, I've lied to the police before when I have a warrant," Harris said.
He also received a form of compensation for his role in the case. The witness protection program spent $21,686 to relocate five family members because Harris feared for their safety.
Why they might have: The police say Clark admitted that the letter was in his handwriting. After they obtained a copy of it, lead detective Michael Martinez says he and another detective visited Clark in prison in August 2008 with a court order to get a handwriting sample from him. Through the food slot, they asked him for the sample. But Clark refused, Martinez said; he told them it had already been proven that the handwriting was his.
His comment may have been a reference to a conclusion reached by a handwriting expert used by the Rocky Mountain News. The expert compared the letter to previous letters written by Clark and concluded that it was "the same writer, period."
Prosecutors say the language used in the letter also points to Clark. For instance, they say there's no way Marquise Harris would have known that Daniel "PT" Harris, the self-described eyewitness, goes by the nickname "the Rican."
On the stand, Harris explained his motivation by saying he felt a "moral wrong" had been committed and he was trying to right it. "My faith and my religion, Islam, is my main thing," he said. "And my metamorphosis that I'm trying to undergo to be a better human being."
