Slain poker player 'didn't need to cheat'

For a 51-year-old preacher, Patricia Clark was a pretty sharp poker player. Maybe too sharp, the woman accused of shooting her apparently thought

After accusing Clark, of the 1300 block of West 108th Place, of cheating her and three other gamblers out of an $800 pot, the alleged killer shot Clark in the back Thursday night, Clark's family and police say.

Two days after what was supposed to be a friendly game of cards at a pal's home, Clark succumbed to her wounds Saturday night at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn.

Rosie Morris, 46, of the 9300 block of South Ridgeland, was charged with murdering Clark, according to police.

Clark's grieving husband, James Clark, said she "didn't cheat and didn't need to cheat, she's just very good at cards."

His wife -- who preached at several South Side churches and had recently started a business selling candy -- was invited to the home in the 9300 block of South Ridgeland on Thursday to collect an outstanding gambling debt of $300 from an "old friend of 20 years," James Clark said.

When the friend invited her to stay and play some more, she agreed. Four hours later, she had cleaned up.

Morris angrily accused her of cheating, authorities said. But Clark said she had won fairly and demanded to be paid.

As Clark went to the freezer to get some ice, Morris went to a bedroom, got a gun and, without warning, shot Clark in the back, firing three more times into Clark's head and chest, her husband said.

Morris initially fled but later turned herself in to police, authorities said.

James Clark said his wife was a beautiful person who had lost one of her two sons to murder but had helped raise a dozen foster children and "would take homeless people in off the street and feed and cloth them."

News Added: 08 June, 2010

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