A jury of his peers found him not guilty of murdering a police officer who died 41 years after being shot, and yet William J. Barnes still could spend the rest of his life in jail.
Though acquitted of murder, and already having served time for attempted murder, the fact that he was arrested with a cell phone and a set of car keys in his pocket—both parole violations—could keep Barnes, 74, in prison for the rest of his life, reports the Daily News.
Barnes shot rookie Philadelphia police officer Walter Barclay during a botched burglary in 1966, paralyzing the officer from the waist down.
Barnes served 16 years in prison for the attempted murder of Barclay. After being released from prison, Barnes worked at a supermarket, lived in a halfway house and lectured at Temple University and Eastern State Penitentiary about turning his life away from crime.
When Barclay died in 2007, the district attorney’s office brought murder charges against the 74-year-old. A jury acquitted him Monday, bringing the elderly man to tears and provoking him to say, “Thank you all,” to the exiting jury members.
But the district attorney does not believe justice was done.
“Officer Barclay’s life was cut short back in 1966,” Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said in a statement Monday. “The bullet may not have immediately killed him, but it definitely took away his life.
“This was a healthy, vibrant young man only 23 years old, who was suddenly confined to a wheelchair and later died of that injury because of William Barnes cowardly act,” Williams said.
The discovery of a cell phone and car keys in Barnes pocket could keep him in prison until 2030 because he has four years remaining on his 10-20 year sentence for attempted murder, as well as time for other crimes he committed in the 1980s, including attempted escape.
“He has these technical parole violations that he's in on. He has to go before the parole board before he can get out," defense attorney Samuel Silver told the Daily News.
Barnes’ hearing before the parole board is not until 2013.
