Man sentenced for 1989 slaying: Defendant will serve prison terms concurrently

BANGOR, Maine - A West Virginia man is going to prison for 40years for manslaughter and kidnapping in the case of a marijuanapartner who was chained to a tree and killed in 1989.

Patrick Alexandre, 46, of Parkersburg, W.Va., received the maximumsentence on each count from Justice Joseph Jabar in Penobscot CountySuperior Court. The 40-year sentences will be served concurrently.

The family of the victim, Joseph Cloak Jr., expressed satisfactionwith the outcome on Thursday.

"This is one person who thought he was going to outsmart thesystem, and he didn't," said Cloak's sister, Linda Norris.

Detectives first met with Alexandre in November 2000 after heindicated he witnessed a murder and knew where a body was buried inhopes of shaving time off a sentence for a probation violation inWest Virginia.

During the trial, Alexandre testified that he and Cloak, who was27, were partners in a marijuana operation near Alexandre's home.

Alexandre admitted helping to bury Cloak's body in Bradford afterdiscovering Cloak chained to a tree with his head wrapped in ducttape. But he said it was a friend from New Hampshire, Charles Emery,who had killed Cloak.

Emery, 53, of North Hampton, N.H., did not testify after tellingthe judge that he would invoke the Fifth Amendment against selfincrimination.

Defense attorney Don Brown of Bangor urged the judge to sentenceAlexandre to 20 years in prison followed by a term of probation. Hesaid that Emery, not Alexandre, was responsible for Cloak's deatheven though the New Hampshire man has not been charged in connectionwith the case.

Jabar rejected Brown's argument.

"Charles Emery is not an alternative defendant to the exclusion ofPatrick Alexandre," the judge said Thursday.

"The person (responsible for Cloak's death) is devoid of anyhumanity," said the judge added. "Certainly Patrick Alexandre was apart of that."

Alexandre was arrested on Nov. 22, 2000, at a weigh station onInterstate 95 in Old Town and held at the Penobscot County Jail on awarrant because of a probation violation in a drug case in WestVirginia.

It was at the jail that he told guards he had witnessed a murderyears earlier and knew where a body was buried.

Assistant Attorney General Fernand LaRochelle said after thesentencing Thursday that state police are continuing to investigateEmery's possible connection to the slaying.

But Brown doubted that Emery would be arrested for the role heallegedly played in Cloak's death.

"So far, the police haven't laid a hand on Charlie Emery," Brownsaid. "That is a serious miscarriage of justice."

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