THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997           TAG: 9702220349
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   34 lines

MAN SENTENCED IN ATTEMPT TO SET CLINIC FIRES

Six months after he was convicted of conspiring to set fire to abortion clinics in Newport News and Norfolk, a Norfolk man was sentenced to seven months in a federal prison Friday.

Clark Ryan Martin, 24, could have served a much longer sentence. Federal sentencing guidelines recommend between 27 and 33 months. However, Martin had cooperated with prosecutors and they urged leniency.

U.S. District Court Judge Raymond M. Jackson also ordered Martin to serve three years of probation and pay $1,355 in restitution to the Tidewater Women's Health Center in Norfolk. He could have been fined up to $250,000.

Martin, an Old Dominion University student, pleaded guilty last May to a single count of conspiracy in the fires, neither of which caused extensive damage. Prosecutors dropped two counts of arson and two counts of using fire to commit a felony, a charge punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Anti-abortion activist Jennifer Patterson Sperle pleaded guilty in federal court in November to similar charges.

Sperle, 24, of Wichita, Kan. - the mother of four young children - was sentenced to 30 months in prison last week. She had faced up to five years in prison.

Lighter fluid, kerosene and traffic flares were used to try to set fire to the Peninsula Medical Center in Newport News in December 1994 and the Women's Health Center in March 1995.

Martin acted as a lookout while Sperle set the fires. He also provided a roadside flare Sperle used to set the Newport News fire and helped her break a window at the Norfolk clinic.

KEYWORDS: ABORTION CLINIC FIRES SENTENCING