The funeral for a Smith State Prison guard killed in the line of duty Sunday will be held Friday in Hinesville.

Georgia Department of Co r r e c t i on s officer Robert Clark will be laid to rest following a funeral Mass at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, with more than 300 fellow law enforcement officers expected to be in attendance. Clark, who had been employed as a corrections officer since April, was killed when an inmate he was escorting from a dining hall attacked him with a homemade weapon. The assailant, identified as Layton Lester, also attacked a second inmate Clark was escorting, Marko Willingham, who stepped in to help Clark, according to the state Department of Corrections. Clark and Willingham were taken to nearby hospitals and Clark succumbed to his injuries. Willingham’s injuries were described as non-life-threatening.

Lester, 15 at the time of his arrest, was charged with felony murder and armed robbery for an April 29, 2007, incident. He was tried as an adult in 2009 and sentenced to life in prison on the murder charge. He also was sentenced to 20 years for armed robbery, 20 years for burglary and five years for possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.

In 2020, the state Supreme Court upheld his conviction.

Lester has been moved from Smith State Prison to the Special Management Unit in Jackson.