alleged Tre-Tre Crips gang member — took exception

group of Denver Broncos players arrived at the Safari nightclub to celebrate New Year's Eve and was whisked inside by bouncers. One of the dozens of people waiting in line to get in — an alleged Tre-Tre Crips gang member — took exception.
"We street," Willie Clark told wide receiver Brandon Marshall, according to court testimony. "We got money too."
That encounter between celebrated professional athletes and an alleged angry gang member ultimately led to the Jan. 1, 2007, shooting death of cornerback Darrent Williams, a jury decided Thursday, convicting Clark of first degree murder.
"It was a chance meeting and it was a ridiculous altercation that led to this tragic result," said Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey.
Clark, 26, faces life in prison at his April 30 sentencing.
It took prosecutors and police nearly two years to build their case against Clark, partly because those who witnessed the shooting were part of a gang drug ring that was under federal investigation, Morrissey said. A code of silence kept those witnesses from talking.
Federal drug cases pending against the gang's members helped crack the case. Several witnesses testified they saw or heard from Clark that he fired shots from an SUV truck into a stretch Hummer limousine carrying Williams and 16 others from the nightclub at 2 a.m. Williams died in teammate Javon Walker's arms.
"It was this man, who indiscriminately, with universal maliciousness ... took it upon himself to unload his .40-caliber handgun into that limousine full of innocent people," Chief Deputy District Attorney Timothy Twining said in his closing argument.
Inside the nightclub, Clark continued to confront the athletes, prosecutors said. During testimony, Marshall described Clark as "off the hook" after a member of the Broncos' entourage sprayed champagne on New Year's revelers.
Prosecutors portrayed Williams as a peacemaker as his friends argued with gang members.
Marshall, who was at the nightclub but not in Williams' limo, grew emotional on the stand as he described teammates with bloodstained clothes at a hospital afterward. He said Walker clutched a bloody necklace Williams was wearing and wouldn't let it go.
Some gang members testified against Clark in exchange for lighter sentences on unrelated crimes. Two witnesses refused to testify against Clark, saying their families would be hurt if they spoke out against a gang member. A third witness spent a night in jail before changing his mind and agreeing to tell jurors Clark confessed to the shooting.
Security was tight throughout the 11-day trial. Thirteen armed deputies stood in the courtroom as the verdict was read. Deputies also were stationed along a hallway outside the courtroom.
Clark declined to testify in his defense, citing threats to himself and his family. Defense attorney Darren Cantor said gang members had threatened to turn Clark into "Swiss cheese" if he said anything in court.
Another defense attorney, Abraham Hutt, maintained that Clark wasn't even in the SUV when the shooting happened.
"This is what this is about: Willie Clark is a scapegoat," Hutt told jurors.