BATTLE CREEK, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for July 21 after a Battle Creek man entered a no contest plea to a second degree murder charge in connection with the death of 51-year-old Angela Kay Clear at the Cherry Hill Manor Apartment complex in March of 2022.
On line court records show 51-year-old Jerry Clinton Harston entered the plea on Monday in Calhoun County Circuit Court.
Prosecutors dismissed the original count of open murder in exchange for the plea. Harston was scheduled to go on trial on September 19.
Clear was found deceased in her apartment by police who were conducting a welfare check at the request of her daughter, because she had not heard from her in several days. Investigators ruled the death as a homicide on March 28, 2022.
Clear’s stolen vehicle was found three days later near Big Rapids, close to where the suspect was arrested.
