Suspect Who Had Escaped Convicted of Murder

A man who made a daring escape from Orange County Jail last year was convicted Wednesday of the murder and robbery charges that had put him behind bars in the first place.

Robert J. Clark, 24, of Palm Springs will be sentenced automatically to life without parole.

He and David Eugene Hayes were arrested several months after the Jan. 1, 1984, killing of David Lewis Martinez of Santa Ana.

Prosecutors said that Clark and Hayes had been hitchhiking and that Martinez picked them up and took them to a party.

When the three got back into the car, prosecutors said, Clark and Hayes robbed Martinez and killed him.

Caught at Motel

Clark was being held at the Orange County Jail when he escaped on Jan. 26, 1986, with convicted killer Ivan Von Staich, who was awaiting sentencing. The two used ropes and wire to negotiate the four floors from the rooftop recreation area to the ground.

Clark was recaptured at a Tustin motel three days later. Von Staich was caught in Massachusetts a month later.

Clark pleaded guilty to the escape. Von Staich is still awaiting trial for his escape charges.

Hayes, being held for trial in the murder at the Orange County Jail, told The Times recently that neither of them meant to kill Martinez.

“We were only out to roll somebody,” Hayes said.

Clark is scheduled to be sentenced by Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald on Nov. 13.