A Fremont County jury needed two hours to convict Hanme Clark of murdering three of his Custer County neighbors. Judge Lauren Swan sentenced him the next morning to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The killings grew out of a years-long property dispute on Rocky Ridge Road, a remote stretch northeast of Westcliffe near the Fremont County line. Clark, 47, lived at 165 Rocky Ridge Road and operated a nonprofit called Herbal Gardens & Wellness. The Geers and Daulton families owned bordering land. Arguments over property lines and road access had been escalating.
The day before the shooting, Robert Geers called the Custer County Sheriff’s Office to report Clark had been walking his property in camouflage carrying a rifle. He told Deputy Brandon Thurston that Clark had warned him: “You have a target on your backs.” Geers requested a civil standby for the next morning when he planned to install a fence.
On November 20, 2023, surveyor William Bechaver arrived to help with the fence work. He testified that Clark approached and spoke with Geers for 10 to 15 minutes before things got heated. Clark drew his gun and shot Geers in the chest. Robert Geers, 63, his wife Beth Wade Geers, 73, and James Daulton, 58, were killed. Patty Daulton survived with serious injuries.
Clark and girlfriend Nancy Rae Medina-Kochis fled Colorado. U.S. Marshals and New Mexico State Police captured them the next day near Albuquerque after deploying spike strips on I-40.
The case took more than two years to reach trial. A venue change moved it from Custer to Fremont County because the small community was too familiar with the case. Defense attorneys Janene McCabe and Ian McDavid argued the investigation was flawed and that state forensic analysis failed to connect Clark to the shootings. The jury convicted on all counts — three counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder, assault with serious bodily injury, and menacing with a firearm.
Swan sentenced Clark to life without parole on the murder counts. She added 48 years consecutive for attempted murder. The menacing charge carried another three years.
Clark addressed the court and maintained his innocence, calling himself “wrongfully held captive.” Swan told him she wished he had stayed silent. Three people are dead over where a fence should go. Medina-Kochis faces separate charges.
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