The Janice Clark Smith Story ~ Coming Soon

In the small community of Catawba, on the banks of the Catawba River in York County, is the story of a daughter that shot her druken father after a lifetime of sexual and physical abuse. Her sisters and brothers were treated the same way.

When in court while she was on trial for the murder of her father, she spoke of more than 4 decades of physical abuse by her father, George Manley Clark. She spent 17 months in the Graham Correctional Institute in Columbia, S.C. That followed decades of hell. Janice worked in the prison sewing room. She availed herself to every opportunity there. She would turn 50 years old in prison before she would be paroled on January 4th, 2006.

She admitted in court on December 11th, 2003, that she had a few drinks. She had been asked by her mother to go check on her father. Her mother was sick and had been taken to a family members house. She drove to her parents house, put  a pistol on the counter and poured another glass of wine for her father who was drunk. He got up out of his chair in the den and started cursing her and came toward her. She reached for the gun and shot him three times.

In court, people cried through memories of violence. They heard about his druken buddies who groped and molested his children. A shotgun held to Martha Clark's head if the children did not stop crying. Harry Dest, the Public Defender was Janices's lawyer and stood by her until she was paroled.

Oprah Winfrey and Larry King later ran shows about Janice Smith. They are still interested in how Janice was doing.

Her brothers and sisters also suffered at the hands of their father. The last beating came a few days before the killing. When Janice tried to visit her sick mother who had cancer, her father spit in her face and thumped her one last time.