(Beth Clifton collage)
Four years on probation & must have head examined
IRONTON, Ohio––Pleading guilty to aggravated assault against Showing Animals Respect & Kindness founder Steve Hindi, Shannon Lee Clark, 37, of Ironton, Ohio, was on April 18, 2022 sentenced to serve four years on probation, perform 200 hours of community service, pay court costs, and “complete a mental health assessment and comply with treatment recommendations.”
Clark and co-defendant James V. “Bub” Newcomb, 54, were caught by SHARK hidden cameras in the act of attacking Hindi and SHARK employee Adam Fahnestock on January 3, 2021.
Newcomb and Clark charged Hindi moments after Hindi launched a drone from the public access to Newcomb’s property, east of Ironton, to investigate an alleged cockfight which was believed to be already underway.
The SHARK investigation was part of a nationwide campaign against cockfighting funded by the Humane Farming Association.
James V. “Bub” Newcomb II and co-defendant Shannon Clark.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Judge accepted plea bargain he earlier rejected
Newcomb was videotaped knocking the drone controller out of Hindi’s hand and smashing it first against his own mailbox, then against the car Fahnestock was driving.
Both Newcomb and Clark then allegedly participated in throwing Hindi to the ground, kicking and beating him repeatedly, threatening to kill him, and then assaulting and beating him again, minutes later, on another public road about a quarter mile away.
Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas Judge Andrew Ballard issued the plea-bargained sentence without offering any explanation why.
Judge Ballard had on November 10, 2021 rejected essentially the same plea bargain, warning Clark then, in so many words, that violent offenses of the severity he was originally charged with would require jail time.
Shannon L. Clark.
Judge said Clark’s testimony was of little value
Clark had been offered a suspended sentence by the prosecution in exchange for his testimony against Newcomb, but Judge Ballard indicated that he had not been informed about the deal.
Judge Ballard at that time described Clark’s testimony as having been of little value in securing Newcomb’s conviction on multiple counts,
Clark was originally indicted by a Lawrence County grand jury on February 23, 2021 on the felonious assault charge plus one count each of fifth degree felony theft, and one count of felonious evidence tampering.
Shannon Clark. (Beth Clifton collage)
Many priors, little prison time
Clark brought to the courtroom a history of multiple prior arrests and convictions, for offenses including having allegedly assaulted a former police officer who once arrested him, after a chance meeting in an Ironton bar.
Clark is believed to have plea bargained light sentences in previous cases in exchange for his testimony against co-defendants, and/or for providing information to police about other crimes under investigation.
Judge Ballard on November 10, 2021 sentenced Newcomb to serve from four to six years in the Ohio state penitentiary, and fined Newcomb $5,000.
(Beth & Merritt Clifton)
Newcomb was convicted on November 5, 2021, after a two-day jury trial, of one count of felonious assault for using his pickup truck to ram Fahnestock’s car, running it off the road into a deep ditch; one count of felony theft for causing the loss or destruction of a SHARK drone, the drone controller, and miscellaneous camera equipment; and one count of misdemeanor assault for beating Hindi.
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Caught in the act & simply gets probation & community service after a history of multiple prior arrests & convictions, including allegedly having assaulted a former police officer who once arrested him?. Either the judge doesn’t trust his own well-being against this mental loose canon or Clark was born under a lucky star or they’re all in on the game in high Redneck country. Thank you for article, would be interesting to know how much of 4 to 6 years sentence, that Clark’s partner in crime got & actually serves.
Nice boys! Just a slap on the wrist, but, I suppose, better than what such fine upstanding citizens in that neck of the woods usually get.
Sharing, with gratitude.
I have called Lawrence County Prosecutor Brigham Anderson’s office more than a dozen times, to give Anderson an opportunity to explain his behavior. Prosecutor Anderson clearly doesn’t wish to explain himself in this case, nor does he wish to explain other curious decisions he has made.
For instance, he wouldn’t allow an investigation into the cockfighting that was ongoing on the day that SHARK investigator Adam Fahnestock and I were attacked.
Prosecutor Anderson also wouldn’t allow an investigation into the cockfighting SHARK exposed with undercover video in July 2021. That incident also included the presence of a Lawrence County sheriff’s deputy, Michael Lawler, who responded to our call about the illegal activity.
Deputy Lawler, chose to do nothing about the cockfighting, and subsequently lied about it in his police report, falsely claiming he made no contact with property owners. Deputy Lawler’s boss, Sheriff Jeff Lawless (his real name – we can’t make this stuff up) refused then, and still refuses today to discuss either the cockfighting or his lying deputy. Prosecutor Anderson, who could have stepped into this case of obvious corruption, chose to do nothing.
Prosecutor Anderson also allowed a breeder who had 67 sick, malnourished dogs removed from his property to walk away from cruelty charges, and further, didn’t prosecute the man for making death threats against the rescuers.
When SHARK investigators first got to Lawrence County last year, we opined that Lawrence County felt just like Kentucky. We were wrong. Lawrence County, Ohio is more like Kentucky than Kentucky is, and that is a very bad thing.
Now, attacker Shannon Clark, a violent career criminal, continues to prowl the streets of Lawrence County, thanks to Lawrence County Prosecutor Brigham Anderson. Perhaps Sheriff Lawless or Prosecutor Anderson will give him a job. They will all make a very compatible team.
Anderson is just as bad as the perps and he’s useless to the innocent, law-abiding residents of that community – if there are, in fact, any.