Joel G. Barnes appeared in court for the second time this week
to be arraigned for six more felonies, and the prosecutor said the
district attorney might add even more charges based on Barnes’
refusal to surrender to authorities numerous times in recent
weeks.
Joel G. Barnes appeared in court for the second time this week to be arraigned for six more felonies, and the prosecutor said the district attorney might add even more charges based on Barnes’ refusal to surrender to authorities numerous times in recent weeks.
The most recent allegations are related to offenses committed during the course of last week’s repeated attempts by deputies to arrest Barnes on warrants for prior charges. He was charged today with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of resisting arrest, one count of evading, and one count of vandalism – all felonies.
Wednesday afternoon, Judge Edward Lee set Barnes’ bail at $250,000, citing the defendant’s six pending criminal cases in local court, and a prior conviction for manslaughter. Barnes is also in custody in lieu of a combined $125,000 bail for domestic violence and firearms possession charges for which he was arraigned Tuesday.
Barnes, 39, of Gilroy, said little, but shook his head in disagreement numerous times today as a Deputy District Attorney Cindy Hendrickson argued for a sizable bail for the latest charges.
“(Barnes) is a great danger to society, and he will go to any lengths to escape capture,” she said.
Barnes’ history of violence includes the killing of his girlfriend with a knife in 1995, a list of misdemeanor charges including battery since he completed his sentence in 2007, and a parole violation in 2006, she said.
Barnes rammed a Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputy’s car and tried to hit another deputy’s car when authorities tried to pick him up in San Martin Sept. 2, Hendrickson said. Immediately following that encounter, Barnes led deputies on a chase through rural areas of South County, destroying a fence on private property – which led to Wednesday’s felony vandalism charge.
Barnes eluded deputies a total of three times this summer as they attempted to arrest him on warrants, and ran from Morgan Hill police on one occasion, Hendrickson said. More charges could be piled on because of these previous flights from authorities.
After today’s hearing, Hendrickson said she felt the bail was “appropriately set.”
If convicted of all six charges announced today, Barnes could face a maximum of 21 years and four months in prison, according to district attorney Spokesperson Amy Cornell.
Barnes rarely sat still during the proceedings, as he repeatedly but quietly attempted to get the attention of his attorney from the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office.
He was arraigned Tuesday on the charges that led deputies to seek him earlier this summer. His charges of false imprisonment and felony assault stem from a July 23 domestic violence incident, and his charge for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is in relation to an Aug. 18 burglary of a pistol from a San Martin residence.
When asked Tuesday by the judge if his name and date of birth were correct on those two complaints, Barnes replied both times, “That’s about all that’s correct.”
He will be in court again Friday for a plea hearing on all felony cases at 9 a.m.
In addition to these felonies, Barnes has three misdemeanor cases pending in Santa Clara County Superior Court. Charges in those cases, all filed in 2009, include battery, resisting arrest, contempt of court, and giving a false name to police, Cornell said.
Barnes completed his parole on an 11-year prison term for killing his common-law wife, Tracy Lynn Little, in Dec. 2007. The killing, to which Barnes pleaded no contest on a voluntary manslaughter charge, took place in 1995.
