The Case

July 29, 2005 - Kolor Koncepts was an auto-body shop in Madison, Tennessee, and a place one detective described as where "very little automotive work [was] being done and a lot of drug activity took place." Around 10:30 p.m., brothers Kent and Kirk Clouatre were at their shop when Kirk's wife Melissa Clouatre arrived with their children and a friend. Parked in the garage bays were Melissa's car and her Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which had a likely stolen license plate registered to a third vehicle.

The two surviving victims told contradicting stories:

• Melissa's account: Three to four Black men arrived, spoke with the Kent and Kirk Clouatre near the Monte Carlo's trunk, then as Kirk walked away from the conversation, gunfire broke out

• Kent's account: Kent claimed he was outside picking up trash when the men arrived and "simply started shooting"—denying any conversation occurred and that he remained with his brother Kirk during the incident

What was clear: Gunfire broke out wounding Kent and Melissa and killing Kirk. After the shooters fled the scene, Melissa pulled her car out of the garage and onto the street before calling 911. When police arrived, Melissa was flushing drugs down the toilet. Critical evidence discovered years later: A blood trail—not visible in black and white photographs —proved Kent ran a significant distance away from the garage in the opposite direction from the perpetrators, despite his sworn testimony that he stayed by his brother's side during the shooting and could therefore make a reliable eyewitness identification. Color photos revealing the blood trail and refuting his testimony were never shown to the jury.

Based largely on learning someone nicknamed "T" worked near the shop, Detective Satterfield placed Thomas Clardy into a photographic lineup, and was identified as the shooter by Kent Cloutre weeks after the crime. This single, cross-racial identification became the sole basis for Thomas' arrest and conviction.

What the jury heard at Thomas’ trial:

• Kent Clouatre (white) identified Thomas (Black) from the lineup

What the jury never learned:

• Melissa Clouatre picked out a completely different person from the same lineup

• Satterfield obscured this fact by marking "did not make an identification" on the official form re: Melissa’s identification

• Melissa's contradictory identification only surfaced in 2014 when post-conviction counsel obtained videos of the lineup procedure

• In Kent’s video lineup, he makes a statement indicating that he viewed the photo lineup prior to the recording being turned on, which is not proper procedure

• No expert testimony was presented about the well-documented problems with eyewitness identification, especially cross-racial eyewitness identification

Thomas had a solid alibi for the time of the shooting: he was at home with his then-wife Royleesha Mason, who was on bedrest for a high-risk pregnancy after recent hospitalization for pre-labor contractions.

The procedural disaster:

• Mason was ready to testify that Thomas was home all night

• The jury was instructed to disregard her testimony due to defense counsel's failure to file the required advanced notice of an alibi witness

• This left Thomas without his primary alibi witness

What the jury did hear:

• Shakisha Thompson testified she picked up Mason's son for bowling, seeing Thomas at that time, returned him between 10:30-11:00 p.m., and was “calmly” greeted by Clardy who was wearing a pair of “grandpa slippers.”

• During this time period, Thompson testified she saw Thomas both times, and he appeared "calm" and "neatly dressed" in his "grandpa slippers"

• The prosecution argued Thomas could have committed the murder at 10:45 p.m. and still been home by 11:00 p.m.

The impossible timeline: The State’s theory and timeline does not work. The drive between the crime scene and Thomas's home was approximately 10 miles and would require roughly 15 minutes of travel—to commit a grizzly murder with two accomplices at 10:45 p.m., and then still be at home by 11:00 p.m. to calmy greet Ms. Thompson at the door strains all credulity. Jurors never heard these critical facts about distance and timing impossibilities due to another defense oversight.

Ultimately, Clardy was convicted based on the story told by Kent Clouatre (an account that was contradicted by the other witness Melissa Clouatre), and a single cross-racial eyewitness identification that was also contradicted by the only other witness. Jurors never got to hear his full defense.

Hidden for a Decade — In 2016, eleven years after conviction, ballistics testing revealed a bombshell: two of the three guns used in the shooting, a 9mm and a .40 caliber, were used in other crimes after the Clouatre shooting but before Thomas Clardy went to trial.

A constellation of errors:

• Crime Lab errors prevented the gun matches from being discovered for 10 years

• Had evidence been properly entered, Thomas's trial counsel would have known about the real perpetrators

What the testing revealed:

• The 9mm was used in a January 2006 homicide by a man unaffiliated with Thomas Clardy.

• The .40 caliber—the weapon Kent alleged Thomas used to murder Kirk—was found in possession of the cousin of the 9mm’s owner

The real suspect hiding in plain sight: Another problem, the owner of the .40 caliber and Thomas are similar height and build, allowing for them to be easily mistaken for each other. More Importantly, Kent Clouatre initially described the shooter as having tattoos and gold teeth with diamond cut-outs. The owner of the .40 caliber has these specific features. Thomas Clardy does not. These facts about the weapons, the existence of the gun owners, and one’s specific matched features were never presented to the jury. As the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals later noted, this evidence is "certainly exculpatory."