On a blustery November morning in 1966 a drunk William J. Barnes shot Officer Walter T. Barclay Jr. twice, once in the left thigh and another an inch from Officer Barclay’s spine outside of a East Oak Lane beauty shop. Barnes was charged with aggravated assault and served 20 years. Last month, Officer Barclay died of a urinary tract infection that District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham reports, stemmed from Barnes’ bullet. 41 years ago. She’s pushing to charge Barnes again, this time for murder. The New York Times article cites that Officer Barclay suffered injuries from two car accidents in the 1970s, a wheelchair accident that paralyzed his left arm that same decade, and a more recent case of Hepatitis.

Barnes, pictured at right in a 2005 photo, is now 71 years old and is being held without bond at Graterford prison, 31 miles north of Philly. In the NYTimes article he says,

“Nothing shames me more than what happened that night. I had a good family, a good life and bad morals. I’ll have to answer to my maker for the suffering that man went through. But I’m an old man now. I paid my debt.”

Although his case isn’t technically double jeopardy, it leaves one with an uncomfortable the-law-seems-to-be-getting-stretched feeling. Allen M. Hornblum, an urban studies professor at Temple and author of Philadelphia crime-related books such as Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison and Confessions of a Second Story Man (the story of the K&A–Kensington & Allegheny–gang) invited Mr. Barnes to speak to a class. Know anyone who sat in on this class/has a video/audio transcript? send to tips [at] philebrity dot com or k dot fai dot steele [at] gmail.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 2:01 pm.