Barrett Trial Reset To March
Last updated Tuesday, November 18, 2008 6:18 PM CST in News
By Robin Mero
THE MORNING NEWS
A judge Tuesday gave attorneys four more months to prepare for the second capital murder trial against Roger Dale Barrett, whose first conviction in 2001 was overturned for ineffective counsel.
Barrett spent more than six years in prison after being sentenced to life without parole after a four-day jury trial in July 2001. The jury took only 20 minutes to find him guilty of shooting his mistress, Eunice "Yogi" Bradley, then burning her body in a field near his Cave Springs home in 2000.
Benton County Circuit Judge Tom Keith later granted a Rule 37 petition that claimed Barrett was not adequately represented at trial and called the case the most troubling of his 20-plus years on the bench. The Arkansas Supreme Court last year affirmed that decision.
Prosecutor Van Stone is again pursuing the capital murder charge, and Barrett is free after posting a $150,000 bond. He is represented by Springdale attorney Joel Huggins. A trial was to begin Tuesday, but Keith reset that for March 23.
Stone on Tuesday agreed not to use evidence recently gathered from a conversation between Barrett and the Bradley's daughter. Barrett visited earlier this month with the daughter but didn't know she had a recording device that was provided by authorities.
Attorneys said finding witnesses who testified in the first trial is a challenge.
The state presented 25 to 30 witnesses in 2001, and Stone said he expects to use that many again. Many are easy to find, such as the medical examiner, crime lab witnesses and investigators.
For those he can't find, Stone plans to introduce testimony using the transcript from the first trial. Huggins said he may object to some of this if no effective cross-examination was done for that witness. Stone, however, argued that testimony can be excluded only if that specific objection was raised and affirmed during the Rule 37 petition process.
Keith retires in December but offered to conduct the trial as a special judge since his replacement, Circuit Court Judge-elect Robin Green, was prosecutor when Barrett was arrested and therefore can't hear the case. The courts likely will follow administrative procedure, however, and pass the case to Circuit Judge David Clinger, said Circuit Judge John Scott on Tuesday.
Barrett did not testify during his first trial and this was an objection made in the Rule 37 petition.
Barrett said in a Rule 37 hearing he shot Bradley by accident. He was trying to break off his two-year relationship with her and reconcile with his wife. He had been smoking marijuana, drinking tequila and taking methamphetamine throughout that day, he said.
Barrett kept a .22-caliber pistol under the sofa, and he claimed Bradley grabbed it after he told her of his plans. After a struggle, they lost their footing and fell, the gun went off and a bullet hit her in the chest. He burned her body in a panic, he testified.
Keith said in his ruling the jury might have believed that testimony.
The state Supreme Court agreed with Keith that attorney John Gross' performance was deficient in three areas: He failed to develop any trial strategy; he failed to adequately question potential jurors; and he failed to present a discernible defense.
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