Editing Corey Clark (section)

====Disqualification====
[[File:07CoreyClarkRubenStuddard.jpeg|thumb|right|Clark with [[Ruben Studdard]] in 2007.]]
During the ''American Idol'' competition, ''[[The Smoking Gun]]'' revealed that Clark had been arrested at his [[Topeka, Kansas]] home on October 12, 2002, after neighbors called police after hearing a commotion within the residence, including a girl yelling. Police arrived and questioned Clark and his 15-year-old sister Alysha, after which Clark became confrontational with the officers. Clark alleges police misconduct in handling the matter, asserting that he was beaten by the officers, who ultimately wrestled Clark to the pavement and handcuffed him behind his back.  After managing to get his handcuffed hands in front of him in the squad car, he was shown a taser and warned he would be shot with it if he continued to resist, at which point he relented. He was charged with misdemeanor battery on four police officers and his sister, and endangering the welfare of a child.  However both Clark and his sister Alysha have denied that he ever hit her, and Alysha echoed her brother's account of the way the situation transpired.<ref>[http://www.foxesonidol.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=1&article=article1147.art&page=1 "American Idol 2: Corey’s Story"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061023104615/http://www.foxesonidol.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=1&article=article1147.art&page=1 |date=2006-10-23 }}, foxesonidol.com, April 18, 2003</ref>

On December 4, days after Clark became one of the final 32 ''American Idol'' contestants, he was charged in Kansas District Court with resisting arrest, battery upon his sister, and criminal restraint. Clark ultimately pleaded "no contest" to "obstructing legal process" through a [[plea bargain|plea agreement]], and was sentenced to six months unsupervised [[probation]] and ordered to pay $116.00 [[United States dollar|USD]] in legal costs. Clark states in his book, "Initially no charges were filed against me, and I was refunded my $116.00 [[United States dollar|USD]] bond money after attending a November 11, 2002 court hearing back in Topeka."<ref>Clark; 2005; Chapter 4.</ref>  That December, after Clark had filled out his contracts for ''American Idol'' and was publicly named a semi-finalist on the show, the state [[district attorney]] elected to proceed with the case and filed charges against him.<ref>[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/coreyidol1.html "Another 'American Idol' Scandal"], [[The Smoking Gun]]; June 19, 2003</ref>

According to ''American Idol'''s producers, Clark did not disclose his arrest record when joining the competition, although Clark maintains in his book ''American Paulatics'' that he spoke with them and with judge [[Paula Abdul]] about his legal troubles. Producers also explained that the background checks conducted on all contestants did not uncover his arrest because of a misspelling of Clark's name in the police report. Clark maintains that this could not be true, as all background checks are conducted via [[social security]] numbers, which Clark had provided to producers in his contract. The producers disqualified Clark from further participation in the competition nine hours after the story broke.<ref>[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/coreyboot1.html "Statement Regarding Corey Clark and American Idol"]. [[The Smoking Gun]]. March 31, 2003</ref>

Clark believes that he was punished not for causing conflict with producers behind the scenes. According to Clark, after he made it to the twelve finalists' round, he and the other finalists were unduly pressured by producers to sign a contract, using one of two attorneys handpicked by the producers for representation, or be disqualified from the show. Clark and his fellow contestants' position was that having the producers select an attorney for them was a [[conflict of interest]], a conclusion they reached with the advice of Abdul, who had told Clark, "Look, if you can get six of your fellow contestants to stand up with you and say, 'We want our own attorney, we're not rolling with this stuff you want us to do,' they will not kick off the rest of the cast." The other contestants decided to support him in standing up to producers, and consulted with Abdul's lawyer, Howard Siegel, on her recommendation (though Clark maintains in his book that they did not know at the time that Siegel was one of Abdul's attorneys). Two weeks later, producers began asking Clark about his arrest record, and dismissed him from the show.<ref>Harris, Chris (May 6, 2005). [https://web.archive.org/web/20050630080636/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1501446/20050506/clark_corey.jhtml?headlines=true "Corey Clark Says Paula Abdul 'Told Me She Loved Me'"]. MTV.com.</ref>