West Philadelphia bar owner Clinton Harriott remembers well the torture that four sadistic kidnappers inflicted upon him on a humid summer afternoon two years ago.
In Common Pleas Court yesterday, he recalled being stabbed, shot twice and sliced in the leg by a machete until it struck bone, all while his abductors demanded that his family pay a $450,000 ransom.
But for the life of him, Harriott, 47, could not remember what his kidnappers looked like, which was part of the reason why Judge Harold M. Kane cleared two men who had been charged in connection with the case, authorities said yesterday.
Lamont Cook, 23, and Shawn Clarke, 38, both of West Philly, had been identified by police as suspects about a month after Harriott was abducted from his bar, Club William Penn, at 57th and Ludlow streets, on July 17, 2007. No other suspects were ever identified.
Both men were also featured on two episodes of "America's Most Wanted" that dealt with the case, said public defender Francis Carmen, who represented Cook.
But the case against Cook and Clarke failed to hold up, Carmen said, because DNA evidence recovered by police didn't link either man to the three crime scenes: Harriott's bar; a white van that the kidnappers used to transport him, and a rowhouse on Cedarhurst Street near 60th that served as a makeshift dungeon for Harriott's torture.
Carmen said he believed the case then fell apart in court yesterday when Harriott stated that neither Cook nor Clarke had been involved in the kidnapping.
"At one point, he said, 'Listen . . . I was shot twice, stabbed a number of times and somebody put a hatchet in my leg down to the bone. I want to find who did it, but these guys didn't,' " Carmen said.
"I don't think there was a person in the courtroom who disbelieved him," the defense attorney noted. "For all intents and purposes, the trial was over at that moment."
Harriott's declaration disappointed prosecutors.
"In fairness to Clinton, he never positively identified Cook as one of the perps. From Day 1, he said he only got a good look at one of the guys," said Assistant District Attorney Peter Erdely.
"According to the statement he gave to police, that guy was Shawn Clarke. "
But at a preliminary hearing earlier this year, Harriott apparently changed his tune, and said he did not believe that Clarke was one of the kidnappers, Erdely said.
Investigators had determined that Clarke had previously rented the house where Harriott was tortured.
Detectives had also found Clarke's birth certificate and mail in his name at that property, Erdely added.
Police had said Harriott was alone at his club on July 17, 2007, when two men rang the doorbell and asked about scheduling a party. The men forced their way inside; one opened fire and wounded Harriott in the leg; the other stabbed the bar owner in the hand.
From there, they dragged him to a waiting getaway van occupied by two other men. Investigators said the abductors called Harriott's relatives and demanded $450,000, and threatened to chop off his foot with an ax.
Harriott managed to escape the rowhouse torture site later that day when his abductors apparently lost interest and left, police said. Bloodied and delirious, he staggered down Cedarhurst Street and banged on neighbors' doors, pleading for help.
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