Joel G. Barnes, a Gilroy man who led deputies on a two-day
manhunt after he allegedly tried to run over one of them with his
truck last week, was arraigned on previous charges in Santa Clara
County Superior Court Tuesday.
Joel G. Barnes, a Gilroy man who led deputies on a two-day manhunt after he allegedly tried to run over one of them with his truck last week, was arraigned on previous charges in Santa Clara County Superior Court Tuesday.
He was in court to hear the charges against him in two separate cases that originated earlier this summer. Barnes, who is still in custody, was wearing an orange inmate jumpsuit and was shackled. His hair was shorter than in previous mug shots provided by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. He did not appear visibly injured less than a week after deputies shot at him and fought hand-to-hand with him before taking him into custody.
Barnes is charged with false imprisonment, and felony assault in connection with a July 23 domestic violence incident in Gilroy. In the second incident, which happened Aug. 18, he is charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Barnes served an 11-year prison sentence that ended in 2007 for voluntary manslaughter. In that case, he was convicted of killing his common-law wife, Tracy Lynn Little, in Gilroy in 1995.
When asked by Judge Diane Ritchie Tuesday if his name and date of birth were correct on each of the two complaints for which he was arraigned, Barnes replied both times, “That’s about the only thing that’s correct.”
He is scheduled for plea hearings in both cases for 9 a.m. Friday.
His total bail for those two cases is $125,000. He asked the judge to reduce his bail because he “(has) a business to run.” However, the judge declined to consider changes in bail amount at the arraignment proceeding.
But Barnes is being held without bail for charges related to an alleged attempt to run over a Sheriff’s deputy with his truck Wednesday when authorities tried to arrest him at a home in San Martin, the subsequent auto chase to Mount Madonna Park in Gilroy, and an attempt to run away on foot before he was finally arrested in Watsonville Thursday night.
About 11 p.m. Thursday, members of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team and Watsonville police officers cornered Barnes inside a residence on Webb Road in Watsonville, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Sgt. Rick Sung said. Barnes – who provoked deputies into shooting at him while he escaped their capture by driving his truck at them Wednesday – ran from the Watsonville house and into nearby woods.
The SWAT team and canine officers found Barnes hiding inside some bushes and tried to arrest him, but he fought against them, using his hands and feet to strike them, Sung said. However, the officers subdued him and took him into custody. He was booked on suspicion of attempted murder of a peace officer, at least one count of evading a peace officer, and being a felon in possession of illegal weapons. Barnes was previously wanted for burglary of a pistol, ditching a stolen motorcycle, assault with a deadly weapon and felony domestic violence.
The District Attorney’s Office is still reviewing the charges stemming from last week’s pursuit, and if the office decides to file the charges it will likely do so by Wednesday, according to DA’s spokesperson Amy Cornell.
Barnes is set to spend significant time in court in the coming months, as Cornell noted he has three other cases, besides those that were heard today, pending in Superior Court. In those cases, he is accused of a slew of misdemeanors, including violating a protective order, contempt of court, battery, giving a false name to a peace officer, and resisting arrest.
Following the incident in which Barnes was eventually convicted of killing the mother of his children, he alternatively claimed to police that the woman had fallen on the knife or gotten in the way of it as he tried to leave the Montebello Drive residence where they were fighting. He eventually pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and his sentence started April 19, 1996. He was paroled Sept. 26, 2004, and his formal release occurred Dec. 23, 2007, according to the Corrections Department.
Barnes was listed as one of the Gilroy Dispatch’s Most Wanted last month after deputies searched a home on the 5000 block of Hecker Pass Highway Aug. 15 looking for him. Instead, deputies arrested two men in their 30s and a teenage girl who were staying in the house on various weapons and drug charges. Between them, the men and the girl had machine guns, methamphetamine for sale, marijuana and stolen property, deputies said. Sung did not know if this incident was the origin of Barnes’ illegal weapons charge.
Then, on Aug. 17, a resident living on the 10000 block of Sycamore Avenue in Morgan Hill reported that Barnes had stolen a handgun worth $200.
Two days later at 4:39 a.m., Barnes abandoned a motorcycle stolen out of Gilroy in a yard on the 13000 block of Sycamore, deputies said.
Barnes was also arrested Feb. 10, 2008, by Gilroy police for making a felony threat and battery, according to Dispatch archives.
