Wednesday, May 26, 2010

A Complicated Acquittal in Philadelphia

The Philadepphia Inquirer reports on a fascinating and complicated acquittal.

William J. Barnes, the 74-year-old petty criminal who was convicted and imprisoned for 16 years for shooting and paralyzing Philadelphia Police Officer Walter T. Barclay in 1966, was acquitted of murder Monday in Barclay's death 41 years later.

Although Barnes is now free of all charges in the death of the 23-year-old rookie he shot during a 1966 burglary, he is far from free. When he was paroled in 2006, he had served 16 years of a 20-year sentence for shooting Barclay, and was living in a halfway house and working at a Philadelphia supermarket.

When Barclay died in August 2007 at age 64, the District Attorney's Office ordered Barnes arrested on murder charges. Authorities found that Barnes had a cell phone and car keys - violations of his parole.

"Mr. Barnes won't be released today or any day soon . . . until the parole issue is resolved," said Samuel W. Silver, the defense attorney who led a team from the firm of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis L.L.P. that provided pro bono representation for Barnes.

Silver estimated it could be six months or longer before Barnes' case goes before the state parole board. His next scheduled parole hearing is in 2013, according to Assistant District Attorney Edward Cameron.

Although he could not say what position his office would take on parole, Cameron said Barclay's sister and the FOP were opposed to it. He added that the cumulative time remaining on Barnes' other convictions - two robberies and a prison escape - could keep him behind bars until 2030.

This is payback pure and simple. The man paid for his crimes. Don't they have anything better to do in Philadelphia than this? No wonder law enforcement in the City of Brotherly Love has the reputation it does, frequent abuses in the police department and never-ending vengeance for the bad guys.

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