Editors note: Following is a statement given by George Clark, brother of murder victim Jay Clark V, during Polk County Superior Court yesterday in the case of Ida Hays Clark, who pled guilty to felony breaking and entering, felony larceny, possession of a stolen vehicle, conspiracy to commit voluntary manslaughter and solicitation to commit voluntary manslaughter.

Your Honor:

You and I have both been put into unfortunate positions. You are being asked to rule on a case that has not been presented, and I have been asked by my family to speak for my murdered brother, Jay Clark V, and of the events that brought us here.

Let me give you a brief and factual background.

My older brother lived with my sister, Hays, and her boyfriend, Trent Miller. Jay V was a gentle man, having never been in a fight nor arrested for any crime. On Jan. 12, 2006, in my sisters garage, he was shot in the back of the head with a shotgun. He was then dismembered with his arms and legs being sawed off with a chainsaw. His teeth were removed and his body was wrapped in a blanket and buried in my sisters yard where her grandchildren would later play that summer. His arms and legs were burned in a fireplace; all traces of his identity were removed.

For five months we all believed my sister as she told us stories of my brothers whereabouts and reassured us he was okay, but just out of contact. Three of us actually knocked on every apartment door in town in an attempt to find him.

During this time my sister sold off my brothers cars, an Infinity Q45, his truck and his dune buggy. She signed and cashed my brothers final paycheck ten days after his murder. She sold my brothers collection of antique silver and other worldly possessions on eBay.

On July 21, someone broke into my office, stealing a car and some computers that were later recovered at her house. At the scene of the crime was my brothers baseball cap. I contacted my sister and she said my brother had broken into her house the same day and the two crimes must be related. At this point he had been dead and buried for six months.

Two months later my sister and her boyfriend were charged with felony possession of cocaine and possession of methamphetamine. Hays was immediately released on bail. The next week she started cleaning up her house for sale. While she was at lunch with her real estate agent, her gardener discovered a shallow grave. Upon Hays return, the gardener and a friend showed Hays the gravesite that had been covered with tools. Hays became emotional but eventually agreed to call the police. She did not call the police, but instead she put the tools back over the grave.

Subsequent search warrants at her house led to the discovery of the unmarked grave. My sister gave video testimony to the sheriffs office, detailing the crime, absolving herself of involvement, but implicating herself in the cover up. She witnessed the blood and the body parts but never told us anything. When my nephew was allowed into her house to recover his fathers belongings, there was still brain tissue on the ceiling and bones charred in the fireplace.

While incarcerated she wrote numerous letters to another inmate providing vivid details of the crime. I have seen copies of these letters and the court has the originals.

The DAs office asked us to wait patiently while they placed their priority on the Chris Abril sex offender case, a case that was originally dismissed in 1989. Hays bail was reduced in spite of our protestations; she was released on bond. At no point in the last four years while she lived and worked in the area has she made any attempt to communicate remorse for this crime in any way.

We were summoned to court on a nearly routine basis supporting the court with our presence and answering questions asked of us. After nearly four years of stops and starts, we were informed that Trent Miller was being offered a plea of second degree murder and after some months he accepted, but that Hays charge would remain the same.

On Monday of this week the arresting officer, Christopher Beddingfield, reassured our family that the trial would be simple. Anyone viewing Hays video confesson would see that she was a material accessory to this brutal and senseless murder.

Yesterday the D.A. told us that he was not going to try the case. Too much time had passed. We asked the D.A. and his assistants what they thought of Hays video confession. Sadly, the D.A. could not recall if he had seen the video or possibly some transcripts.

Every delay, every setback, every failed attempt at justice, is like having my brother be murdered over and over again. Living with this, and reliving this, has altered the lives of my family forever. We will never be the same.

A good, decent mans life ended in such a horrific manner, with callous and ill intent.

Since his murder, my brother, Jay, has missed Christmases, family birthdays, his sons wedding, the birth of his two beautiful grandchildren, as well as the illness and tragic death of our father.

My father passed away while my brother was still missing. My sister told him at the hospital she did not know where Jay was, even though Jay had been buried in her yard for eight months. My father left this world not knowing why my brother wasnt there in the end. My brother wasnt allowed to be there to be a comfort to our father as the cancer claimed him.

No family should ever experience the kind of horror and loss that we have endured as a result of my sisters inexplicably harsh and destructive decisions and actions. No ones son, brother or father should have their life snuffed out in such an angry, disgusting way. Then, after being mutilated to cover up this ugly, ugly act, to be cast into a shallow grave like so much garbageanimals receive more care when they die.

For my sister to cite her stress level or psychological malady, as what led to the events of that night brings selfishness to a whole new level. She does after all, have a criminal psychology degree. There is no excuse, no amount of pseudo reasoning that will ever justify her very real part in the murder of Jay V. She made a conscious decision, took definitive steps and was instrumental in setting in motion something so unimaginable, so heinous, so irrevocable, so final, there can be no excuses.

So, your Honor, you and I are in an unfortunate position; you with a decision to make and me having to explain the outcome to my family.