THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 23, 1996 TAG: 9608230117
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 26 lines
The sentencing for an anti-abortion activist who pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit arson at abortion clinics in Newport News and Norfolk was postponed Thursday morning.
Sentencing for Clark Ryan Martin was scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, but people who arrived for the proceeding were told it had been continued. The judge was involved in another trial, according to the court clerk's office.
No new sentencing date was immediately set.
Martin, 24, could face up to five years in prison and fines totaling $250,000 when he is sentenced.
Martin, an Old Dominion University student, pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy in the fires, neither of which caused extensive damage. Prosecutors dropped two counts of arson and two counts of using fire to commit a felony, a charge punishable by up to 20 years in prison upon conviction.
KEYWORDS: ABORTION PROTEST ARSON by CNB