Pensacola man receives life sentence for 2020 murder

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WALA) - A Pensacola man received a life sentence following a guilty verdict in a 2020 murder case.

An Escambia County jury on Wednesday convicted Ellis Miguel Clark of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 24-year-old Andrew Howard, state prosecutors announced today.

According to court documents, Clark tried to rob Howard at gunpoint on Dec. 27, 2020, in a parking lot at Northwoods Apartments off 9th Avenue. The two fought. When Howard broke free from Clark and ran toward his nearby apartment, Clark fired twice. One shot grazed Howard’s left hip while the other penetrated his back to his heart, killing him.

Evidence presented at the trial established that Clark conspired with co-defendant Nicholas Wells to rob Howard of “a substantial amount” of cash. In addition, Clark burned his vehicle in an effort to destroy evidence and reported to Escambia County sheriff’s deputies that the vehicle had been stolen.

Following Wednesday’s conviction, Circuit Court Judge Lee Robinson hand down the life sentence.

The judge also ordered that Clark’s term will be served consecutively with a life sentence imposed in June 2023 for a first-degree murder conviction. In that case, Clark and Wells killed 20-year-old Marcus Atienza in Ensley, Fla., prosecutors said.