Results 1 to 3 of 3

Thread: Vincent McGee sentenced to 65 Years in 2010 MS Slaying of White Supremacist

  1. #1
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217

    Vincent McGee sentenced to 65 Years in 2010 MS Slaying of White Supremacist

    Rankin DA Seeks Death Penalty In Barrett Murder



    BRANDON, Miss. (AP) - Prosecutors have upgraded the charges

    against a suspect in the death of Mississippi white supremacist

    Richard Barrett to capital murder.

    Rankin County District Attorney Michael Guest made the

    announcement during Tuesday’s arraignment for Vincent McGee, who

    also is charged with arson. Guest says robbery was the underlying

    felony to support the capital murder charge.

    Guest said McGee allegedly took a wallet and a gun from

    Barrett’s rural Rankin County home.

    McGee was arrested on April 22, hours after Barrett’s body was

    found. An autopsy showed the 67-year-old Barrett had been stabbed,

    beaten and burned. Three other people are charged as accessories.

    At the arraignment in Rankin County Court, Undersheriff Bryan

    Bailey testified that McGee told investigators he hit and stabbed

    Barrett after the man made sexual advances.

    http://www2.wjtv.com/jtv/news/local/article/rankin_da_seeks_death_penalty_in_barrett_murder/139708/

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    DA to seek life term in slaying of white supremacist

    Rankin County District Attorney Michael Guest said he has no plans to seek the death penalty for Vincent McGee, charged in last year's killing of white supremacist Richard Barrett.

    Instead, prosecutors will seek a life without parole sentence - the only other option for jurors after a capital murder conviction.

    Defense attorney Mike Scott of Jackson welcomed the news.

    McGee's previous attorney, Precious Martin, withdrew from the case, citing as one reason a lack of death penalty experience.

    The trial for McGee, charged with capital murder and arson in the April 22 slaying of Barrett, had been scheduled to start Feb. 14. Now that trial is expected to be postponed until August, Guest said.

    Prosecutors have already charged McGee as a habitual offender, but they may seek to upgrade that. "We believe at this point that he would qualify as a violent habitual offender," Guest said.

    Mississippi has "three strikes, you're out" statutes that dictate maximum sentences. In cases where one of three felonies is a violent crime, those convicted automatically serve life without parole (as long as they have served at least a year behind bars on each of the two previous felonies).

    In 2006, McGee was sentenced to a year in prison with four years suspended for assaulting a police officer. After being released in 2007, he violated his probation, and the judge sent McGee back to prison to serve the four years that had been suspended.

    Convicted of grand larceny, McGee was given a five-year sentence to serve - a sentence that ran concurrently with his four-year sentence. After finishing his prison time, he was released Feb. 23. On April 23, Rankin County sheriff's deputies arrested McGee in connection with Barrett's death.

    If prosecutors succeed in getting the trial judge to declare McGee a violent habitual offender, it would make their job easier, Guest said.

    That means, he said, that even if McGee is only convicted of arson, he would still be automatically sentenced to life without parole.

    McGee's sister, Sherri, said such a decision wouldn't be fair because her brother acted in self-defense and should be guilty of no more than manslaughter.

    In a hearing last year, Scott hinted his client may claim self-defense at trial.

    Rankin County Undersheriff Bryan Bailey testified then that McGee said he had gone to Barrett's Pearl-area home to use the Internet.

    Barrett had already helped McGee set up a Facebook account.

    Bailey testified that McGee said Barrett dropped his pants and asked McGee to perform a sex act. In response, Bailey said McGee described stabbing him "until he quit moving."

    Bailey testified McGee said he later returned and burned the body and house. An autopsy showed 16 stab wounds to Barrett and blunt-force injuries to the head. A third of his body was burned.

    In subsequent statements, McGee said a dispute over pay for yard work was what had escalated into a violent argument, Bailey testified.

    Three others have been charged as accessories in the case - McGee's mother, Tina, her boyfriend, Alfred Lewis, and one of McGee's friends, Michael Dent.

    http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pb...=2011102020337

  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Man Pleads Guilty In Death Of White Supremacist

    BRANDON, Miss. -- The man charged in connection with the death of white supremacist Richard Barrett has pleaded guilty.

    Vincent McGee, 23, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, arson and burglary charges Thursday in Rankin County Circuit Court. Judge William Chapman sentenced him to 65 years in prison -- 20 years on the manslaughter charge, 20 years on an arson charge and 25 years on a burglary charge.

    Rankin County District Attorney Michael Guest said McGee is expected to remain in prison until he's about 75 years old.

    "We felt that was a fair sentence based on all of the factors that went into this case," Guest said.

    McGee had been charged with capital murder, and prosecutors had said they would seek the death penalty.

    Firefighters found Barrett’s burned body inside his home on April 22, 2010, after a neighbor reported seeing smoke coming from his Rankin County home. An autopsy revealed that Barrett, 67, had been beaten and stabbed to death.

    Later in that day, deputies arrested McGee, who lived down the road from Barrett. Authorities said McGee had told police several different stories about the slaying, including that it stemmed from a sexual advance from Barrett. Investigators said McGee also claimed the slaying was over a debt Barrett owed him for yard work.

    Barrett moved to Mississippi in 1966, just before he founded a group called the Nationalist Movement. McGee, who is black, said he had not known that Barrett was a racist leader.

    Read more: http://www.wapt.com/news/28694064/de...#ixzz1TQPMrisz

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
  •