Navajo Man Pleads Guilty to Second Degree Murder

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office, announced today that Marc Clark pled guilty to second degree murder. Clark, 46, and an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, will remain in custody pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled.

A federal grand jury indicted Clark on Nov. 17, 2021. According to court records, Clark drove with three others, including John Doe, also an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, to a gas station in Shiprock so that John Doe could fill up a gas can.  After the group parked the vehicle, John Doe and Clark got out and John Doe entered the store to pay for gas. While John Doe was inside, Clark began arguing with John Doe’s girlfriend, who was in the rear seat of the vehicle. As the argument escalated, Clark unsuccessfully attempted to pull John Doe’s girlfriend out of the car.  During the struggle, Clark slapped and punched her multiple times through the open window. In response to the assault, the driver of the vehicle drove away, leaving Clark in the parking lot. When John Doe walked out of the store, he approached Clark, and the two men began talking. As they were talking, Clark drew a knife from his pocket and suddenly and without warning stabbed John Doe in the neck.

John Doe was taken to the trauma care unit at the Northern Navajo Medical Center, where he passed away. Clark was apprehended by the Navajo Police Department at a laundromat near the gas station. The knife he had stabbed John doe with was on his person at the time.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Clark faces between 23 and 27 years in prison.

The Farmington Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew J. McGinley and Paul J. Mysliwiec are prosecuting the case.

# # #

23-170