Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 16 of 16

Thread: Kenneth Eugene Barrett - Federal

  1. #11
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    Oklahoma state trooper's killer won't get new sentencing hearing

    A man convicted and sentenced to death for the 1999 fatal shooting of an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper will not receive a new sentencing hearing, a federal judge has ruled.

    U.S. District Judge Ronald A. White, in an opinion and order issued Thursday, found that Kenneth Eugene Barrett’s trial counsel was “deficient” but that Barrett was not “prejudiced by counsel’s performance.”

    Barrett, 57, has been seeking a new sentencing in the fatal shooting of David “Rocky” Eales on the grounds that he received ineffective counsel during the sentencing phase of his trial.

    Eales and other members of the OHP tactical team were carrying out a no-knock search warrant just after midnight Sept. 24, 1999, in search of methamphetamine at Barrett’s Sequoyah County cabin when they came under fire.

    A Muskogee federal court jury convicted Barrett in 2005 of two gun-related counts and of intentionally killing a state law enforcement officer during the commission of a drug trafficking crime.

    The jury returned sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole on the gun charges and a death sentence for the fatal shooting of Eales.

    The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2015 ordered that an evidentiary hearing be held in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma regarding whether Barrett’s federal trial attorneys were deficient in not investigating Barrett’s background and mental health during the penalty phase of the 2005 trial.

    After listening to seven days of testimony in 2017, U.S. Magistrate Steven P. Shreder issued a report recommending that Barrett be granted a new sentencing hearing.

    Federal prosecutors objected to the recommendation for a new sentencing hearing, arguing in court filings that evidence presented on Barrett’s behalf would not have affected the outcome of the trial.

    The government did not object to the magistrate’s finding that Barrett’s trial counsel was constitutionally deficient in developing a mitigation strategy during the sentencing portion of the trial.

    Evidence presented on behalf of Barrett during the 2017 evidentiary hearing indicated that he is bipolar, has had auditory hallucinations, has a history of brain trauma and has a family history of mental health issues going back several generations.

    In his ruling Friday, White noted that while the magistrate found that Barrett had a family history of mental health problems, violence and alcohol abuse, that didn’t “offer any compelling mitigation evidence when weighed against the evidence that the jury heard regarding the petitioner’s cold-blooded and premeditated killing of a state law enforcement officer engaged in the performance of his official duties.”

    “Simply because (Barrett) was able to obtain experts who described (him) as having mental health disorders so severe that he could not have rationally assisted his attorneys in the preparation of his defense, does not mean the jury would have given much weight to that testimony in light of the evidence it heard over the course of the entire trial,” White wrote.

    Attorneys for Barrett and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Muskogee could not be reached for comment Friday.

    Barrett was initially tried in state court on charges related to the fatal shooting of Eales.

    Barrett’s 1st state court trial resulted in a hung jury.

    In the 2nd state trial, Barrett again faced murder and shooting-with-intent-to-kill charges in Sequoyah County District Court, but jurors returned guilty verdicts in February 2004 on lesser offenses of 1st-degree manslaughter and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

    (source: The Purcell Register)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #12
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    On May 15, 2019, Barrett filed an appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ci...s/ca10/19-7028

  3. #13
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    On June 11, 2019, Barrett's appeal was DENIED. The panel was made up of Judge Briscoe (Clinton), Senior Judge Kelly (G.H.W. Bush) and Judge Eid (Trump).

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ci...s/ca10/19-7028

  4. #14
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    On September 24, 2020, oral argument will again be heard in Barrett's appeal before the Tenth Circuit.

    https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/...2020_Cal_0.pdf

  5. #15
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    The panel will be made up of Judges Hartz (G.W. Bush), Matheson (Obama) and Carson (Trump).

    https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/...2020_Final.pdf

  6. #16
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,318
    Death sentence reversed by the Tenth Circuit.

    https://law.justia.com/cases/federal...021-01-19.html
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •