News

Jury convicts grandson in murder of Dixie Diner owner

By Lightning Reports, Published: October 8, 2024

As Hurricane Helene raced toward the North Carolina mountains, a jury was deciding the fate of Austin Amos Kennedy Byrnside, the 24-year-old man accused of first-degree murder in the death of his grandmother, beloved Dixie Diner owner Paulette Clark.

After a nearly two-week trial, the jury on the night of Sept. 25 found Byrnside guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary and felony conspiracy to commit common law robbery, District Attorney R. Andrew Murray announced. Superior Court Judge Daniel Kuehnert sentenced Byrnside to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Assistant District Attorneys Michael Van Buren and Doug Mundy handled the prosecution and sentencing.

According to the investigation and court trial records, Paulette Clark had gone to sleep in her bed with her husband, Martin Clark, when she was attacked in the middle of the night. The suspect, who had entered through a window, shot her in the eye with a high-powered BB rifle and hit her with a blunt object multiple times before running from the house.

Clark was taken to the hospital where it was revealed she suffered numerous injuries. A medical scan revealed a BB had gone through her eye and lodged in her brain. Clark remained in the hospital and was treated for her injuries for two days before being released. According to Dr. Elaine Chan testified at trial that a risk/benefit analysis conducted by the hospital trauma team determined there was no way to remove the BB without risking additional injury to the brain. Five days later, on May 13, 2022, Clark was found by her daughter, Christy Owen, with a high fever and foaming at the mouth and was transported to the hospital, where she died.

Dr. William Harrison, a pathologist who conducted an autopsy, determined that Clark died from a cerebral abscess due to a gunshot wound to the head. He also testified that she suffered at least 11 impacts to the body and some of the impacts left a unique bruising pattern which he believed could have occurred from brass knuckle strikes. The defendant’s mother, Latasha Jones, who was staying in the house with Clark at the time, testified that she knew the defendant had recently been in possession of, and was attempting to sell, brass knuckles.

Ophthalmologist Jordan Masters testified that he performed surgery on Clark’s damaged eye and removed a small piece of silver metal that appeared to be a fragment of metal that ricocheted the brass knuckles.

When sheriff's Detective Andy Anderson interviewed him on May 13, 2022, Byrnside denied any involvement in the crime. Six days later, armed with some incriminating evidence that had been developed against Byrnside, the detective conducted a second interview during which the suspect confessed to the attack but claimed he intended on robbing and killing Marty Clark, not Paulette. According to the law of transferred intent, if a defendant specifically intends to harm one person but instead mistakenly harms a different person, the legal effect is the same as if the defendant had harmed the intended victim.

Byrnside also implicated his uncle, Maurice Jones Jr., in the interview. Jones had been staying at the house with his mother, Paulette Clark, the night of the attack. Jones previously pleaded guilty to the felony charge of being an accessory after the fact to the murder.