Everett family looks for closure in trial for son’s shooting

Published 9:21 pm Tuesday, November 6, 2007

An Everett father received a sense of closure in December when he scattered some of his slain son’s ashes in Canadian backcountry where the family used to ski.

Dan Clements still is drawn to the trial of the 19-year-old Seattle man who allegedly fired into a crowd and fatally shot Jay Clements outside a party in Brier in September 2006.

Noel Evan Caldellis goes on trial today for the shooting death of Jay Clements. He’s charged with an assortment of crimes, including first-degree murder for allegedly exhibiting “extreme indifference to human life” when he fired.

Throughout a series of court hearings over the last 14 months, Dan Clements and his wife, Karen, have been in court constantly to observe the course of justice.

The end of the trial likely will bring more closure to the slain man’s mother, Dan Clements said.

“I think it’s important for her and her family to go through the trial,” he said. “The more we learn the more we know it just should not have happened.”

Jay Clements, 21, was a senior at the University of Puget Sound. He was among a large number of young people attending a party in Brier. Caldellis and some companions arrived expecting to fight someone at the gathering, according to court documents.

Jay Clements tried to act as peacemaker and break up the fight, according to court papers. His father says he really doesn’t know what happened.

When the fight broke out in the cul-de-sac outside the residence, those at the party spilled out into the street to see what was happening. Gunshots quickly rang out.

Prosecutors accused Caldellis of firing into the air a couple of times before leveling the weapon at the crowd and pulling the trigger of a stolen .357-caliber pistol. One bullet hit Clements in the groin, the other in the chest.

Jay Clements attended Mukilteo schools. He graduated from Kamiak High School.

Karen Clements said she’s not looking forward to the trial, which could last until after Thanksgiving.

“It won’t be the most pleasant chapter in my life, but I want to get it over,” she said.

Dan Clements, the top financial officer for the city of Edmonds and former financial chief for Snohomish County, said he hopes the trial will help bring closure to still-grieving friends and family members, as well as his wife.

“It’s harder on her,” he said of his wife. “It’s tough for moms.”

He believes someone is innocent until proven guilty, but Clements said he also can’t understand how a young man allegedly could carry a stolen gun around in his car and then fire it into a crowd as the prosecutors have alleged.

He laments a number of recent incidents involving youths and guns.

“Other kids are doing stupid stuff,” Dan Clements said, commenting that many youths play violent video games. “You want to pick them up by the shirt collar and say, ‘Come on, guys.’ With a gun there is no reset button.”

He also feels sorry for Caldellis’ family, which put up $250,000 bail so the defendant could await trial at home with on electronic monitoring at his home.

It may be painful for the Caldellis’ parents to see their son tried for murder, Dan Clements said. “But I’m not sure it’s any more painful than not having your son anymore.”

Reporter Jim Haley: 425-3393447 or jhaley@heraldnet.com