CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Almost exactly a year after he walked into the Patrick Street Taco Bell and gunned down the mother of his child, Desmond Demetrius Clark was sentenced Thursday to life in prison.

Chief Kanawha Circuit Judge Jim Stucky's sentence came without a recommendation of mercy, meaning Clark, 23, will never be eligible for parole.

In March, Clark admitted that he shot and killed Na'lisha Gravely, the 19-year-old mother of his son, as she cowered in a supply closet in the West Side restaurant on July 5.

At an emotional 2 1/2-hour hearing Thursday, prosecutors and defense attorneys argued over whether Clark would get a recommendation of mercy, the only thing left for Stucky to decide after Clark pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

Kanawha County Prosecutor Mark Plants and Dan Holstein, one of Plants' top deputies, called several witnesses, starting with Tina Gravely, Na'lisha's mother.

"I will forgive you for what you did to my daughter," she told Clark. "I just want to know, what caused you to take her life?"

Clark, who was not permitted to answer, stared at his lap as he sat at the defense table.

Gravely said her grandson De'mahjae, who has lived with her family since his mother's murder, wakes up and moans for his parents each morning.

Christopher Dunlap, who was working at Taco Bell on the day of the shooting, wept as he recalled first Gravely, then Clark, hopping over the counter.

After Gravely asked to use the phone, Dunlap gave her his cell phone, because it is against store policy to let customers use the restaurant's phone, he said.

"The only words that she would say were, 'He's going to kill me,'" Dunlap said. "She was very distraught."

Dunlap followed her into the back of the store, where she retreated into a supply closet that held mops and buckets. He then saw Clark come across the counter, then lift his red tank top to show a gun stuck into his waistband, he said.

"The next thing I knew, he pulled the gun out of his pants and started shooting her," Dunlap said, fighting back tears. "I thought it was never going to stop."

Gravely had already dialed 911, and prosecutors played the recording Thursday. Moments after the dispatcher answers, the loud pop of gunshots is heard, followed by people screaming.

Dunlap then picked up the phone and begged the dispatcher to send help.

"She's bleeding, she's dying," he said on the recording. "Sweetheart, you're all right. The police are on their way ... sweetheart, it's going to be all right ... stay with me ... stay with me. Please, stay with me."

Although Plants consulted Gravely's family before playing the recording, several people flinched and covered their faces with their hands as they sat in the gallery. Several others left the courtroom.

When Holstein began presenting autopsy photos, including a defensive wound on Gravely's hand with the bullet still lodged in it, one person in the gallery was escorted out of the courtroom when his harsh words for Clark became audible to everyone.

Stucky said that he had seen the photos in the adult probation department's pre-sentence report, and the gallery was spared anything more graphic than a picture of a grazing wound on Gravely's scalp.

Charleston Police Detective Brian Jones testified that he was familiar with Clark, having responded to multiple domestic violence calls involving the couple in the years leading up to Gravely's murder.

Chief Kanawha Circuit Judge Jim Stucky's sentence came without a recommendation of mercy, meaning Clark, 23, will never be eligible for parole.

In March, Clark admitted that he shot and killed Na'lisha Gravely, the 19-year-old mother of his son, as she cowered in a supply closet in the West Side restaurant on July 5.

At an emotional 2 1/2-hour hearing Thursday, prosecutors and defense attorneys argued over whether Clark would get a recommendation of mercy, the only thing left for Stucky to decide after Clark pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

Kanawha County Prosecutor Mark Plants and Dan Holstein, one of Plants' top deputies, called several witnesses, starting with Tina Gravely, Na'lisha's mother.

"I will forgive you for what you did to my daughter," she told Clark. "I just want to know, what caused you to take her life?"

Clark, who was not permitted to answer, stared at his lap as he sat at the defense table.

Gravely said her grandson De'mahjae, who has lived with her family since his mother's murder, wakes up and moans for his parents each morning.

Christopher Dunlap, who was working at Taco Bell on the day of the shooting, wept as he recalled first Gravely, then Clark, hopping over the counter.

After Gravely asked to use the phone, Dunlap gave her his cell phone, because it is against store policy to let customers use the restaurant's phone, he said.

"The only words that she would say were, 'He's going to kill me,'" Dunlap said. "She was very distraught."

Dunlap followed her into the back of the store, where she retreated into a supply closet that held mops and buckets. He then saw Clark come across the counter, then lift his red tank top to show a gun stuck into his waistband, he said.

"The next thing I knew, he pulled the gun out of his pants and started shooting her," Dunlap said, fighting back tears. "I thought it was never going to stop."

Gravely had already dialed 911, and prosecutors played the recording Thursday. Moments after the dispatcher answers, the loud pop of gunshots is heard, followed by people screaming.

Dunlap then picked up the phone and begged the dispatcher to send help.

"She's bleeding, she's dying," he said on the recording. "Sweetheart, you're all right. The police are on their way ... sweetheart, it's going to be all right ... stay with me ... stay with me. Please, stay with me."

Although Plants consulted Gravely's family before playing the recording, several people flinched and covered their faces with their hands as they sat in the gallery. Several others left the courtroom.

When Holstein began presenting autopsy photos, including a defensive wound on Gravely's hand with the bullet still lodged in it, one person in the gallery was escorted out of the courtroom when his harsh words for Clark became audible to everyone.

Stucky said that he had seen the photos in the adult probation department's pre-sentence report, and the gallery was spared anything more graphic than a picture of a grazing wound on Gravely's scalp.

Charleston Police Detective Brian Jones testified that he was familiar with Clark, having responded to multiple domestic violence calls involving the couple in the years leading up to Gravely's murder.

When police arrested Clark at a West Side house, he was hiding in a closet in the basement, Jones said.

Valerie Clark, Desmond's mother, said that her son struggled with hyperactive behavior and required medication as a child.

As an adult, Clark started taking Xanax pills, which turned him into a zombie, she said.

"He said he didn't like taking the medicine," she said. "He just kept saying he could control [his behavior]."

She said she was deeply sorry for what her son had done, and that she too had loved Na'lisha.

Dr. Bobby Miller, a forensic psychiatrist, testified that Clark was diagnosed in 2006 with "intermittent explosive disorder," a rare condition that causes people to overreact extremely to minor incidents.

Clark's history of treatment for mental illness dates back to the age of 8, when he was treated at Shawnee Hills for uncontrollable outbursts of anger, he said.

Adding Xanax and alcohol to Clark's condition would have made him "disinhibited and angry," Miller said.

But even with his mental disorder, Clark was criminally responsible for his actions, he said.

Given the chance to speak on his own behalf, Clark turned toward Gravely's family and supporters in the gallery.

"I'm very sorry. I never meant to hurt any of y'all," he said. He asked them to forgive him, saying he wished this had never happened.

"I ask Na'lisha and God for forgiveness every day," he said.

Defense attorneys Theresa Chisolm and Rob Catlett asked Stucky to consider mercy for Clark so that he might someday be a father for his young son.

Unless Clark gets his mental condition under control, the parole board would never release Clark because he would inevitably have repeated run-ins with his fellow prisoners, Catlett said.

Plants said Clark's case clearly required a life sentence without parole.

"It was a murder in broad daylight, that left a child motherless, and a family -- and an entire community -- in shock," he said.

Plants said he intended to play the entire 911 tape, which ran more than 20 minutes.

"I got through two minutes, and I couldn't take it anymore," he said.

Stucky imposed his sentence without comment, and remanded Clark to the custody of the Division of Corrections.

Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.