CLEARFIELD – Jason Robert Clinger, the DuBois man arrested for the double murder of two New York residents whose bodies were found by hunters last week, was not unfamiliar with criminal court, according to court documents the GantDaily News Team researched.
On July 25, Clinger pleaded guilty to two sets of charges for two different cases. In one set of charges, Clinger pleaded guilty to counts of recklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest and public drunkenness. These were not the full extent of the charges, however. Clinger was originally charged with two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of simple assault, two counts of harassment, disorderly conduct, criminal mischief and unauthorized use of an automobile.
According to the affidavit of probable cause for the first case, Sandy Township Police were called about a person who assaulted another person at the Friendly Tavern. Officers checked the Friendly Tavern but were unable to locate Clinger, who had been named by the caller.
When officers arrived to the place where the victim was said to be, another person there said she (the victim) was in the shower cleaning her wounds. Officer Jason Gill noticed a man looking in the back window of the residence while he was speaking to the person.
Gill exited the residence, found the man and noticed he was extremely bloody. Gill asked him his name and the man identified himself as Jason Clinger. He was then placed in handcuffs.
At one point, Clinger was reported to have become combative with police while they attempted to place him in their patrol vehicle.
Gill proceeded to speak with the victim and noticed severe lacerations and bruising on her upper buttocks and along the length of her back. Bruising and cuts were also seen on her right arm.
According to the woman, Clinger, who was her boyfriend at the time, and another man were arguing. The woman left the Friendly Tavern and found Clinger inside of a vehicle she was renting. She related that Clinger was highly intoxicated and should not have been driving the vehicle. She reached in to grab the keys and told Clinger not to drive away and to get out of the car. Clinger began to drive away, however.
The woman’s arm was stuck in the vehicle and she was being dragged along a stone and dirt alley. She was able to get free but felt that Clinger was traveling too fast for her to let go. She told police that she pleaded for Clinger to stop the vehicle. At one point she was dragged through a deep mud puddle and lost her grip on the vehicle, fell to the ground and rolled head over heals.
Clinger drove off then returned again five minutes later. The woman finally got the keys and she and Clinger got into an argument with Clinger. Clinger used his elbow and shattered the passenger side window of the vehicle, then bent the antenna off of the car. The woman attempted to drive away but Clinger jumped at the windshield of the vehicle and held onto the passenger side of the vehicle.
Fearing that she would hurt Clinger, the woman stopped the vehicle. Clinger then laid down underneath the car so that the woman could not leave. After a time, however, Clinger got up and the woman left.
The man that Clinger argued with told officers he tried to stop Clinger from trying to enter the vehicle. He was thrown to the ground and kick on the hip by Clinger. He related that he heard the woman screaming for Clinger to stop the vehicle.
After speaking with the victims, Gill searched the vehicle and saw blood all over the the vehicle.
On the hood of the vehicle, written in blood, was the word “DONE.”
Gill surmised in his report that, “It is unknown what this means but it shows that Clinger finished something that he had intentions of doing.”
For this incident, Clinger was sentenced to six days in Clearfield County Jail and two years’ probation on the charge of recklessly endangering another person. He was ordered to complete the Life Coping Skills program at Gateway, and was ordered to complete 50 hours of community service. He was also ordered to have no contact with the victims and ordered to pay fines and costs. For resisting arrest, Clinger was ordered to pay fines and costs and sentenced to two years probation consecutive to the above sentence. For public drunkenness, Clinger was ordered to pay fines and costs.
The second case that Clinger pleaded guilty to on July 25 originally occurred on April 12. Clinger was stopped for making a left turn from Brady Street onto West Park Avenue where it is posted “No Left Turn.”
During the stop, officers noticed the strong odor of alcohol coming form the vehicle Clinger was driving, which also had three passengers. When asked to exit the vehicle, he attempted to hide something in the front of his pants. During a pat-down, a drug pipe fell to the ground. It was determined during the stop that Clinger was not intoxicated. The pipe was taken into evidence and Clinger and his passengers were free to leave.
For that incident, Clinger pleaded guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia. He was ordered to pay fines and costs and placed on probation for one year.
If Clinger is found to be guilty in the recent double murder of two New York residents, the charges mentioned here could weigh on any sentence, as prior record is taken into account in such instances. The judge will also likely examine the aggressive nature of the first incident.