Hanme Clarkâs attorney entered a ânot guiltyâ plea on Tuesday, January 7, during an arraignment hearing at the Custer County Court House. Clark is accused of ambushing and murdering three people and injuring one on November 20, 2023.
For nearly a decade, a small, winding private road in northern Custer County has been the source of lawsuits, loss of property access, chains across driveways, and feuding between neighbors. Even though ownership of most of the properties has turned over to several new owners in the last ten years, the legal realities of the road constantly reignited fights between neighbors. That decade-long tension erupted in a hail of lead that left three people dead and one in critical condition, with another witness fleeing for his life and calling the cops.
Hanme Clark was one of the owners of Herbal Gardens Wellness, a non-profit organization that owned the land. In late 2019, Clark and his partner and co-owner of the non-profit Nancy Rae Kochis-Medina filed a lawsuit against several neighbors along Rocky Ridge Road, which connects to the Oak Creek Grade in Custer County. Their property cuts across Rocky Ridge Road in three places and they tried to claim that other owners did not have easements to use the road. This lawsuit continued several other lawsuits that had been filed in 2013 and 2015 by prior owners of the properties in question. In 2022, the neighbors retained use of the road through the courts, but conflict continued even when new owners took control of some of the neighboring properties. Over the course of the previous summer, several Sheriffâs reports were filed between the neighbors claiming harassment.
On Sunday night, the night before the shooting, the Herbal Gardens Wellness Facebook page made a series of posts stating that they suffered from ânarcissistic neighbors.â The post continued, âFirst, itâs important to understand that narcissistic behavior is a form of mental illness, and itâs unlikely that your neighbor will change their ways. Trying to confront or reason with a narcissistic neighbor is often futile, as they typically lack the empathy and self-awareness to recognize the impact of their actions on others.â
It is not clear who wrote the posts. The suspected shooter, Hanme Clark, aged 45, had been a mixed martial arts fighter in the Denver area in the late 2000s, but other than these sparse details, not much is known of the man. After the shooting, he fled the area and was captured the next day in New Mexico with his girlfriend, Nancy Rae Medina-Kochis.
In January of 2024, Clarkâs attorney started to formulate his defense during a motions hearing by the courts to examine if there was enough evidence to continue the trial. âI want to make it clear to the court that Hanme Clark is innocent.â That was the statement of Emilee Woodfin, a Senior Trial Attorney for the State Public Defenderâs office, during that motions hearing. She continued to argue that the context of what happened is that Clark was harassed and threatened with violence by his neighbors, and when he reported it, the Sheriff did nothing. âHe is not a monster, and he did not randomly gun down people.â Woodfin also argued that Clark had a constitutional right to defend himself and to bear arms.
The court is likely scheduling the two-week trial at some point in June. New District Attorney for the 11th Judicial District was present at the hearing.
The Tribune will provide more updates as they become available.
Jordan Hedberg