Uncle sentenced for fatally stabbing nephew

Ed Lewis, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Updated ·2 min read

Mar. 21—WILKES-BARRE — An uncle whose guilty plea to third-degree murder that was upheld on appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court was sentenced Thursday to up to more than three decades in state prison for fatally stabbing his nephew in 2019.

Luzerne County Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. sentenced Milton Darius Clark, 63, to 16 to 32 years in prison on a third-degree murder but mentally ill charge.

Wilkes-Barre police charged Clark with stabbing his nephew, Tarese Rahjaan Previlon, 17, during a fight inside their Holland Street residence on April 23, 2019. Previlon died two weeks after the fight. An autopsy revealed Previlon died from a stab wound to his heart.

Court records say Clark was peeping on the boy's mother taking a bath. The woman screamed when she noticed Clark and yelled for her son to get Clark out of the house, resulting in the fight, court records say.

The case was delayed for a long period of time as Clark was once deemed too incompetent to face trial. He was treated at a mental health facility and was found to be well enough for the case to proceed.

Clark pled guilty to third-degree murder but mentally ill in August 2022.

When he was initially scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 12, 2022, Clark, through his attorneys Maura A. Tunis and William J. Watt III, sought to withdraw his guilty plea as he claimed his innocence and expected a lesser term in prison. A pre-sentence investigation recommended a minimum sentence of 18 years.

Sklarosky permitted Clark to withdraw his guilty plea, which resulted in an appeal filed to the state Superior Court by District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce and assistant district attorneys Drew McLaughlin and Carly Levandoski.

The appellate court last month upheld Clark's guilty plea to third-degree but mentally ill stating it was given, "knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently," sending the case back to Sklarosky for a sentencing hearing.

Clark apologized for stabbing Previlon saying, "everything happened so fast."

Tunis said Clark has a history of mental illness and was not medicated at the time of the fight.

"He's regretful for what he did," Tunis said.

McLaughlin, who asked for a sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison, called Previlon's death a "tragedy that should not have happened."

Clark was granted 1,794 days of pre-sentencing credit for time served since his arrest.