Seven years after being found guilty by a jury for the murder of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter, Ian J. Clark attended an appeal hearing in Kosciusko Court Friday afternoon. Clark, 41, was sentenced to life incarceration without chance of parole. He was convicted March 7, 2008, for murdering 2-year-old Samantha Muchowicz, the daughter of his then girlfriend, Matara Muchowicz. During that jury trial, Clark claimed that he was drunk when the girl’s death occurred, and that he should be tried for reckless homicide instead of murder. Prosecutor Daniel Hampton explained after the hearing Friday that the purpose of the hearing was not to argue the prior conviction and ruling, but the application of the law. Clark and his attorney, Kathleen Cleary, filed for Friday’s appeal hearing Aug. 10. Appearing before Judge Michael Reed in Kosciusko County Circuit Court, Cleary claimed that there was fundamental error in the original trial. She called one of Clark’s past attorneys, Brad Voelz, to witness. Voelz told the court that after extensively poring over his files and the court documents for the case, he found errors in Clark’s original attorney’s defense. Clark was represented by Brian Berry, who has since died. Voelz said that this case was a “nasty dilemma” and that he chose not to bring the errors forward before now because if they were proven non-conclusive, he would not be able to use them in court again. One of Voelz’s issues was that the original court document claimed that reckless homicide was defined to the jury as “knowingly and intentionally,” when it should be “knowingly or intentionally.” Another was that Clark had filed for an insanity claim, and then threw it out shortly before the trial. He also claimed that the state provided irrelevant history to the case. With the number of issues in the case, Voelz advised that, in his opinion, this qualifies as fundamental error. Clark was then called as a witness. He told the court that he did not believe he was represented well by Berry or Voelz. Reed gave both parties until March 18 to file results for Friday’s hearing. In May 2007, Ian J. Clark was living in Pierceton with his fiancée, Matara Muchowicz, and her daughter, Samantha Muchowiz, according to Kosciusko Court records. The girl typically stayed with a friend while Clark and Matara were at work, but Clark had been laid off at some point during the month and in an effort to save money Matara began leaving Samantha with Clark for the day. When Matara returned home on May 25, at around 2 p.m., she found Clark lying on the couch with Samantha on his chest, naked and blue, according to court records. She approached the couch and noticed blood on the blanket that was covering up Clark. After being questioned about the blood, Clark sat up and then fell and stumbled into the coffee table, dropping Samantha on the ground. Clark told the fiancée that Samantha was breathing. Matara tried to wake Samantha, but the girl was cold. Samantha’s head was thrown back and she was gurgling. Matara took Samantha and went to call 911, but Clark told her to put the phone down and that Samantha was “brain dead” and then lit a cigarette and turned on the television. Emergency responders attempted to revive Samantha but could not. Police discovered diapers, tissues, a blanket, a shelf on the coffee table, a pillow and pajamas all stained red in the home. Police also discovered blood spatters near the sink and red spots near the door in the bathroom. They observed a hole in the bathroom wall, 65 inches from the floor, with bloodstains and brown hair embedded in it. The blood and hair was Samantha’s, records state.
