Appeals court rejects bridge impostor's plea

<br>DENVER (AP) _ A federal appeals court has refused to reduce the sentence for a Missouri felon who pleaded guilty to impersonating an Army officer at the Interstate 40 bridge collapse in Oklahoma and

Wednesday, April 7th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

DENVER (AP) _ A federal appeals court has refused to reduce the sentence for a Missouri felon who pleaded guilty to impersonating an Army officer at the Interstate 40 bridge collapse in Oklahoma and to a weapons charge.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver turned away William James Clark's argument the sentence he received from U.S. District Judge James H. Payne was too harsh.

Clark, of Tallapoosa, Mo., said Payne should have reduced the sentence because he accepted responsibility for his action and should not have increased the sentence on the weapons conviction.

Clark was sentenced in August to 70 months in prison for possession of a firearm after a felony conviction because a rifle was found in the stolen pickup truck he was driving when he was arrested in Canada. He was sentenced to 36 months for falsely impersonating a U.S. Army officer.

The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

The appeals court said Payne made no clear error and affirmed the sentence.

Payne increased the sentence for firearm possession because, the court said, Clark had the rifle in connection with another felony, the interstate transportation of a motor vehicle.

Payne rejected a recommendation the sentence be reduced on the grounds that Clark accepted responsibility for his action, citing statements Clark made to a newspaper reporter after he pleaded guilty in May.

Those statements included saying his sentence was because he made ``government officials look like fools'' and that he ``(had been) in the Army, but was not at that time'' of the bridge collapse.

Clark argued that his sentence for the firearm possession should not have been increased because he was in Canada when the rifle was found in the pickup truck. Therefore, he said, he violated no U.S., state or local laws.

He said his comments to the newspaper were to explain his conduct and that his misrepresentation of his military record was irrelevant.

Clark arrived at the bridge in Webbers Falls on May 26, 2002, just minutes after a barge struck it, knocking about 500 feet of roadway and several vehicles into the Arkansas River. Fourteen people died.

Wearing combat fatigues, he told rescuers he was an Army captain just returned from Afghanistan and took charge of the recovery operation and took possession of a briefcase belonging to Army Capt. Andrew Clements, who died in the accident.

Clark fled after a confrontation with Webbers Falls Mayor Jewel Horne and officials from the state medical examiner's office. He allegedly also left without paying for hotel rooms and stole a pickup truck in Arkansas.

He was arrested about two weeks later while waiting to board a ferry in Tobermory, Ontario, on Lake Huron.