Inmates battle over shoes, trial delayed

A 32-year-old Snohomish man in Island County jail on felony domestic-violence charges assaulted a fellow inmate during a fight over shoes, according to the Island County Sheriff’s Office.

Donald Clark appeared in Island County Superior Court Monday for a hearing. Island County Chief Criminal Prosecutor Colleen Kenimond said that Clark may face a new charge of second-degree assault for the jailhouse fight.

Kenimond said the new allegation of assault could significantly increase the standard sentence range. She asked to have the trial continued to Aug. 11. Judge Alan Hancock agreed.

Clark is already looking at 10 years in prison if he’s convicted of the charges currently against him. Prosecutors charged him April 23 with second-degree assault by strangulation, second-degree assault of a child by strangulation, unlawful imprisonment, violation of a court order and harassment (threats to kill).

The incident occurred April 19 at the alleged victim’s home on Camano Island. The 27-year-old woman reported that Clark, her ex-boyfriend, punched her in the head and face multiple times, choked her and assaulted her 8-year-old son, court documents state. He wouldn’t let the woman or the boy leave for about six hours; he threatened to kill the woman and himself in front of the child, the report indicates.

Clark pleaded not guilty May 4.

In jail, Clark got into an argument with Williams Lounsberry, a homeless man accused of stabbing another homeless man Jan. 23 in Oak Harbor.

“One guy moved another guy’s shoes and that started the fight,” De Dennis, the jail chief, said.

Ironically, the police reported that a fight over a jacket precipitated the stabbing in Oak Harbor.

Dennis said Lounsberry was transported to the hospital for precautionary treatment, but he didn’t suffer any life-threatening injuries.

Contact Whidbey News Times Assistant editor Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.com or 360.675.6611 ext. 5056.

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