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Posted by: PBC FL Cop

Tuesday, March 14, 2006
’90 gang rape inmate given more jail time

Assault on correction officer

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
This situation could have had dire ramifications. Thankfully, it didn’t escalate into a major problem involving other inmates, but it could have.

Judge Francis R. Fecteau


WORCESTER— A prison inmate already serving 40 to 60 years for his role in the 1990 gang rape and stabbing death of a 26-year-old woman in Boston was sentenced to an additional 6 to 10 years yesterday after being convicted of assaulting a correction officer.

A Worcester Superior Court jury deliberated for about an hour before finding 33-year-old Che Barnes guilty of assault and battery on a correction officer in connection with a Jan. 22, 2004, attack on Officer Raymond R. Mason Jr. at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center. Mr. Barnes was acquitted on a charge of assaulting a second correction officer, Thomas Fisher, who said he was punched in the nose by Mr. Barnes after coming to Officer Mason’s aid.

Judge Francis R. Fecteau sentenced Mr. Barnes to 6 to 10 years, to begin after Mr. Barnes completes the 40- to 60-year sentence he is now serving. The latter sentence was imposed in 1992, after Mr. Barnes was convicted in Suffolk Superior Court of manslaughter, armed robbery and aggravated rape charges in the Oct. 31, 1990, gang rape and stabbing death of Kimberly Rae Harbour in Dorchester’s Franklin Field, according to appellate court records and news accounts of the crime.

Mr. Barnes was one of eight men, including two adults and six juveniles, charged in the Halloween night rape and killing. Ms. Harbour suffered 132 knife wounds and at least 18 blunt trauma injuries.

Officer Mason testified that he was confronted by Mr. Barnes after he removed an extra pillow, which he described as “contraband,” from Mr. Barnes’ cell in the maximum-security prison on the Lancaster-Shirley line. Officer Mason told the jury he tried to restrain the inmate after Mr. Barnes spat in his face. He said he was struck by Mr. Barnes and fell to the floor, striking his head.

Officer Mason said Mr. Barnes lunged at him after he got up from the floor and tried to defend himself. He testified that he was knocked to the floor again, striking his head a second time and lapsing in and out of consciousness. Officer Mason said he recalled Mr. Barnes’ hands around his neck during the struggle before other officers intervened and pulled the inmate off of him.

Officer Mason testified that he suffered a minor concussion and scratches on his neck and chest. He was out of work for about two months because of his injuries, he said.

Officer Fisher testified that he was struck in the nose by Mr. Barnes after he tried to pull the inmate off Officer Mason.

Mr. Barnes testified that Officer Mason, with whom he had had problems in the past, confronted him about the extra pillow, called him a “skinner,” prison slang for a sex offender, and tried to provoke him into fighting. Mr. Barnes, who denied spitting at the officer, said the altercation began when Officer Mason struck him.

“He kept coming. I kept backing up. I grabbed him and we fell to the ground,” Mr. Barnes told the jury.

Prison surveillance cameras captured much of the altercation. Under cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Joseph T. Moriarty Jr., Mr. Barnes acknowledged that a videotape played over and over again for the jury showed him punching Officer Mason three times in the face before being pulled away by other officers.

Officer Mason denied any prior history with Mr. Barnes and said he was unaware of the crimes for which he had been convicted on the day of the altercation.

“I didn’t know his name, didn’t know anything about him,” Officer Mason told the jury.

Mr. Moriarty recommended that Mr. Barnes be sentenced to 7 to 10 years. “I find it very difficult to forget this attack,” Officer Mason said in a prepared impact statement.

Mr. Barnes’ lawyer, Kevin C. Larson, said his client’s 16 years behind bars have been difficult for him because he was convicted of “a crime of some notoriety.” Mr. Barnes was sentenced to 3 years in the Departmental Disciplinary Unit at the state prison in Walpole after a prison disciplinary hearing focusing on the Jan. 22, 2004, altercation, according to Mr. Larson. The defense lawyer recommended that Mr. Barnes be sentenced to 2 to 3 years.

Mr. Barnes, who said he will not be eligible to seek parole on his 40- to 60-year sentence for another 10 years, pleaded for leniency and told the judge he was “remorseful” for his actions.

“It’s not really in my nature to assault C.O.s. I try to stay out of trouble, do things right,” he told the court. Mr. Barnes mentioned during his trial testimony that he was seeking to have his 1992 convictions overturned.

“This kind of thing can’t go on in a prison,” Judge Fecteau said before imposing sentence. “This situation could have had dire ramifications. Thankfully, it didn’t escalate into a major problem involving other inmates, but it could have,” the judge said.

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Posted by: looseScrew

Well Its nice to see a no good POS SKINNER get what he deserves. Stay safe Brothers.

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