Judy Clarke

Judy Clare Clarke (born 1952) is an American criminal defense attorney who has represented several high-profile defendants such as Ted Kaczynski, Eric Rudolph, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Joseph Edward Duncan, Zacarias Moussaoui, Jared Lee Loughner, Robert Gregory Bowers, Burford Furrow, Lisa Montgomery and Susan Smith.

She has negotiated plea agreements that spared her clients the death penalty, as was the case for Eric Rudolph, Ted Kaczynski, and Jared Lee Loughner.

In the case of Susan Smith, Clarke argued to the jury that ultimately voted against imposing the death penalty.

In the case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev the jury voted for the death penalty.

She graduated from Furman in 1974.

Right after college, Clarke went to the University of South Carolina School of Law and received her J.D. in 1977.

From 1983 until 1991, Clarke served as the executive director of FDSDI.

During her tenure as executive director, federal sentencing guidelines were created, a product of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984.

She argued United States v. Rojas-Contreras (1985) and United States v. Munoz-Flores (1990) before the Supreme Court of the United States.

In 1987, her father, Harry, was killed in the crash of a private plane near Asheville.

Helms called Patsy Clarke to offer his condolences and sent the family a flag that had been flown in his honor at the U.S. Capitol.

From about the sixth or seventh grade, Clarke wanted to be a lawyer or a judge.

As a child, her mother taught her the Constitution and she remained interested in it.

Moreover, Clarke regularly argued her opinions on current events at the big table her father installed in the family's kitchen.

Her parents encouraged independent thinking.

For college, Clarke studied psychology at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

In the early 1990s, her brother Mark was diagnosed HIV-positive and revealed to Judy and his mother that he was gay.

At the time, he was studying law at California Western School of Law in San Diego, California.

In 1992, Clarke left FDSDI to lead the newly created federal defender office in the Eastern District of Washington and Idaho, which she did until June 2002.

In 1994, he died of AIDS.

After seeing Jesse Helms attacking gay people on the floor of the Senate and trying to block funding for further AIDS research, Clarke wrote him a letter to ask him to be kind to those who were dying or had died of AIDS.

Helms responded in a letter: "I know Mark's death was a devastating blow to you. As far as homosexuality, the Bible judges it, I do not. As for Mark, I wish he had not played Russian roulette with his sexual activity. I have sympathy for him and for you. But there is no escaping the reality of what happened."

After this, Judy persuaded her mother to come out against Helms, their longtime family friend.

Clarke and Eloise Vaughn—an equally well-connected conservative in North Carolina politics and one who had also lost a son to AIDS—created MAJIC, Mothers Against Jesse in Congress.

From 1996 to 1997, she served as president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Clarke received the John Frank Award from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

Raised in Asheville, North Carolina, Clarke is a graduate of T.C. Roberson High School, Furman University and University of South Carolina School of Law.

Clarke served as executive director of the Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc. (FDSDI) and the Federal Defenders of the Eastern District of Washington and Idaho.

Judy Clare Clarke is the daughter of Harry Wilson Clarke and Patsy Clarke.

Patsy Clarke was the daughter of a Massachusetts movie theater manager who moved the family to Asheville when Patsy was a teen.

Her parents met while in college together.

Clarke grew up in Asheville, North Carolina.

Growing up, she had three other siblings: Candy, Mark, and one other.

Her father was a civic leader in Asheville and president of Western Carolina Industries employer association.

Her mother spent much of her time raising her four children and occasionally acted in regional theater productions.

Clarke's parents were conservative Republicans.

Her father campaigned for Senator Jesse Helms.

They opposed him vigorously in the 1996 election, but he ultimately won re-election.

Right after law school, she moved to San Diego, California, to work as a trial attorney for the Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc. (FDSDI).

She was quickly promoted to Senior Trial Attorney and Chief Trial Attorney.