Curtis sentenced to life for murder of Simon Funk, Jr.

After one hour and 50 minutes of deliberation on Thursday, June 29, a Warren County Circuit Court jury came in with two guilty verdicts and one not-guilty against Clay Marshall Curtis related to the December 2014 shooting death of Simon Funk, Jr.

Clay Curtis, 64, will spend the remainder of his life in prison for the 2014 murder of Simon Funk, Jr. Courtesy Photo

The 64-year-old Curtis was sentenced to life in prison and a $100,000 fine for the First Degree Murder of the Yellow Cab driver he had befriended three months earlier; and a mandatory 3 years on the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.  The fine imposed was essentially symbolic since the defendant is indigent and has been incarcerated since December 10, 2014.

Curtis was acquitted of Attempted Second Degree Murder of Jeffrey Sissler, a martial arts trained neighbor of Curtis’s sister who encountered the defendant the night of Funk’s disappearance not far from where Funk’s body was found later that night.

Off-duty Yellow Cab driver Simon Funk, Jr. was shot to death on Dec. 9, 2014. Courtesy Photo

The verdict and maximum sentence (sentencing range 20 to life) came after a four-day trial that saw the prosecution present 32 witnesses and the defense just three.  The defendant elected NOT to testify on his own behalf.  The vast majority of prosecution witnesses were law enforcement officers on the scene establishing a chain of custody for the prosecution’s largely circumstantial evidence case.

Artist’s rendering of Clay Marshall Curtis and jury behind him listening to testimony. Royal Examiner Court Sketches by Mark Williams/National Media

The sentencing phase saw each side present one witness.  The prosecution called the victim’s mother, who sobbed through a painful recounting of her son and what his life and loss meant to her.  The defense presented a Forensic Psychologist who studied the defendant’s mental and criminal history.

It was a history that saw the short and slightly-built Clay Curtis spend 30 of his 64 years – most of his adult life – in prison, often dealing with physical and sexual abuse.  Despite that history, Doctor Sara Boyd testified Curtis appeared to feel more comfortable in prison than in an outside world “that moved too fast” and uncertainly for him.

On Thursday Clay Marshall Curtis elected not to testify in his own defense. Courtroom art Mark Williams/National Media-Royal Examiner

Testimony indicated that after befriending Curtis through her job cleaning rooms at the Front Royal Motel, Carla Elliott’s introduction of Curtis into the couple’s life led to an increasingly symbiotic relationship.  According to Elliott that relationship included Curtis buying her a car for $3,000 and spending another $2,100 on repairs in exchange for rides when he needed them, among other favors.  Elliott also testified she signed on to Curtis’s move into the Relax Inn when he did not have proper ID.  Eventually, Curtis was locked out of that motel leading to a December 9, 2014 attempt to move in with the couple.

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Forensic psychologist Sara Boyd’s defense pre-sentencing testimony indicated that perhaps Simon Funk and Elliott’s rejection of Curtis’s request to move in with them after he was locked out of the most recent of a series of motel rooms he lived in may have factored into Funk’s murder – and Curtis’s return to the more predictable, if also threatening, confines of prison.

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