UPDATED: Wednesday, October 8, 2008 --- 8:05 p.m.
PORTAGE, Wis. (AP) -- The sentencing hearing for a woman in a Portage torture and murder case has been delayed from Friday until Nov. 4 to allow the defense lawyer more time to study a presentence investigation.
Candace Clark pleaded no contest to being party to second-degree reckless homicide and guilty to being party to false imprisonment, child abuse and related charges.
The 24-year-old Clark was among those charged in the death of 36-year-old Tammie Garlin, whose body was found in June 2007 buried behind the home the group of drifters had rented.
Other charges involve Garlin's son, then 11, who was found naked, severely beaten and burned in a locked closet.
Twenty-six-year-old Michael Sisk is to be sentenced Nov. 10.
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UPDATED Sunday, October 5, 2008 --- 1:55 p.m.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) --- A drifter accused of helping her gang torture an 11-year-old boy and kill his mother is set to be sentenced this week.
Twenty-four-year-old Candace Clark faces nearly 130 years in prison when she goes before Judge Alan J. White in Portage on Friday.
Clark and her gang moved across the country stealing people's identities.
Police caught up to them in Portage, where they discovered the boy locked naked in a closet in the gang's rented house. He had been severely abused. They found his mother, Tammie Garlin, buried in the backyard.
Clark pleaded no contest to being a party to reckless homicide and guilty to being a party to child abuse and other related charges.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
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Posted Tuesday, September 9, 2008 -- 5:20 pm
By Zac Schultz
Portage: Michaela Clerc spent most of the morning with her head down, her large curls hiding her face. It was only when she spoke that it was clear she had been crying. "I do understand I need to go to prison."
Clerc is the first of three adults to be sentenced for their roles in a gruesome murder and torture case uncovered in Portage in June of 2007. She received 37 years in prison, followed by 25 years of extended supervision.
Inside a rented home in Portage, police discovered Candace Clark and Michael Sisk had murdered their companion Tammie Garlin, and along with Clerc they tortured Garlin's 11 year old son, identified as A.G.
Clerc pleaded guilty in February to mayhem, child abuse and two other charges for her role in abusing A.G.
A.G. was beaten with electrical cords, burned with scalding water, starved, kicked and locked in a closet.
"The best visual picture to give would be to have you think of a concentration camp victim who was still incarcerated," says Dr. Barbara Knox, the Medical Director of UW's Child Protection Program.
Doctors say A.G. was near death, the burns to his hands and feet so severe the bones were no longer connected. "He has had amputations of several of the toes of his left foot, and the tips of his fingers of his right hand," says Dr. Gary Williams, A.G.'s pediatrician.
A psychiatrist testified A.G. suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, including flashbacks and nightmares.
The 12 year old A.G. did appear in court. At first glance he looks like a normal child. But his doctors say he will carry these physical and emotional scars with him for the rest of his life. "I have never seen a child that has been so physically and mentally damaged that has survived," says Dr. Knox.
Andrew Voigt, A.G.'s guardian ad litem, read a letter in which the boy asked the judge to sentence Michaela to 124 years in prison. "I want Michelle to go to jail for helping kill my mom. I want her to have a bad life in jail. I want Michelle to have no fun while she is in jail."
Judge Alan White sentenced Clerc to 37 years in prison, with another 25 years of extended supervision. "This is the most egregious injuries that I have ever seen."
Candace Clark will be sentenced in October. The sentencing date for Michael Sisk has not been set.
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UPDATED Tuesday, September 9, 2008 --- 1 p.m.
Michaela Clerc has been sentenced to 37 years in prison for her part in the high-profile murder and abuse case in Portage last June. The maximum sentence would have been 45 years.
Clerc was sentenced to an additional 25 years of extended supervision after she is released.
The 21-year-old woman was part of a group of drifters who murdered a woman who lived with them, and then buried her body behind their rented house in Portage. They also tortured the woman's then-11-year-old son. Court records show they scalded him with hot water, whipped him, starved him, and locked him in a closet in the house.
At today's sentencing, Judge Alan White said of the boy's wounds that they were the most egregious injuries he had ever seen.
Those who testified on the now-12-year-old's behalf echoed White's sentiments.
Both the boy's pediatrician and UW Hospital's Director of Child Protection Program testified that the boy has had extensive plastic surgery as a result of the abuse, and that he will have life-long trauma -- both physical and mental.
According to his doctors, the boy needed to have the tips of three toes on left foot amputated, and he also lost the tips of 4 fingers on his right hand.
A child psychiatrist testified the boy still suffers flashbacks, and Post-traumatic stress disorder, and will "need care for a very long time."
The boy prepared a statement which his court-appointed guardian read at the sentencing. In it, the boy asked that Michaela Clerc receive 124 years in prison, and said he was angry at her for "helping kill my mom" and for abusing him.
Investigators say Clerc roamed the country with a band of identity thieves that included the boy, his sister and their mother.
Click HERE for past developments in this case
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UPDATED Tuesday, September 2, 2008 --- 7:35 a.m.
PORTAGE, Wis. (AP) -- Officials estimate a savings of nearly $64,000 for Columbia County because of plea deals reached for two key defendants in a Portage murder and abuse case.
Jury trials for Candace Clark and Michael Sisk had been scheduled for July and August and were expected to be two of the largest in county history.
But both defendants accepted plea agreements.
Clerk of Courts Susan Raimer says that avoided an estimated cost of just under $64,000 in juror expenses.
The two were charged last summer with killing Tammie Garlin and abusing her then-11-year-old son.
The 24-year-old Clark accepted a plea agreement in July and is scheduled to be sentenced October. 10th. The 26-year-old Sisk accepted a plea deal August 6th and does not have a sentencing date set yet.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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UPDATED Wednesday, August 6 --- 7:00pm
PORTAGE, Wis. (AP) -- A 26-year-old man was found guilty of a lesser charge of second-degree reckless homicide under a deal reached Wednesday with prosecutors in one of the most horrific cases ever to hit south-central Wisconsin.
Michael Sisk faces up to 136 years and three months in prison after being found guilty of 10 charges. He had been charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the killing 36-year-old Tammie Garlin.
Sisk could have been sentenced to life in prison but under the lesser charge he faces only up to 25 years behind bars.
Under the deal, only one charge of child enticement was dismissed. Under the others he either pleaded guilty or no contest. On the homicide charge, he entered what is known as an Alford plea, which means he did not admit guilt but said the prosecution has enough evidence to obtain a conviction.
Columbia County Circuit Judge Alan White found him guilty.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
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UPDATE: Thursday, July 3, 2008 --- 12:35 p.m.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A drifter has pleaded no contest to helping kill a member of her gang in the southern Wisconsin city of Portage.
Candace Clark, 24, was scheduled to go to trial Monday on charges she helped kill Tammie Garlin and abused Garlin's 11-year-old son. Police found the boy in a closet in the gang's rental house in Portage last year and Garlin's body buried in the backyard.
Columbia County Clerk of Courts Susan Raimer says Clark has pleaded no contest to second-degree reckless homicide, reduced from being party to first-degree intentional homicide.
She also pleaded no contest to being party to contributing to the delinquency of a child. She pleaded guilty to being a party to mayhem, child enticement, child abuse, causing mental harm to a child and false imprisonment.
District Attorney Jane Kohlwey dropped charges of hiding a corpse, another count of false imprisonment and battery. Clark's attorney, David Geier, didn't immediately return a message.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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Posted December 14, 2007
PORTAGE, Wis. (AP) -- The leader of a gang of drifters and his girlfriend are both pleading not guilty to charges they killed one of their own, buried her and tortured her son.
Michael Sisk and Candace Clark both face a litany of charges including being a party to murder, hiding a corpse and child abuse.
Both appeared in court Friday via video conference from jail.
Clark's attorney David Geier entered not guilty pleas for her on all counts.
Sisk's attorney Ronald Benavides did likewise.
Mark Frank, the attorney for a third member of the gang, Michaela Clerc, appeared with her via video conference as well. A judge entered not guilty pleas for her after Frank said she was standing mute.
AP
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