Federal judge throws out death sentence for St. Louis County killer of ... - STLtoday.com
Barnett, 39, fatally stabbed Clifford Barnett, 82, and Leona Barnett, 75, at their home after they returned from a post-church brunch. Before the murders, Barnett told friends that his grandparents were going to rent their 1995 Dodge Intrepid to him. After Barnett was convicted at trial of charges including two counts of first-degree murder, his attorneys argued for leniency in the penalty phase, saying he had suffered from depression, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder from a... Prosecutors cited aggravating factors including that Barnett had murdered for money and that the crime was “outrageously vile. Barnett alleged that his trial attorneys had failed to present additional mitigating factors. His appeals were unsuccessful until 2013, when U. S. District Judge E. Richard Webber ruled that a 2012 U. S. Supreme Court case , and Barnett’s unique circumstances, merited a hearing on evidence the jurors should have heard. In Tuesday’s ruling, Webber said the trial attorneys should have probed further into the “horrors” of Barnett’s background. They would have uncovered his real father, a violent alcoholic, and Barnett’s sexual abuse at the hands of another man, Webber wrote. Source: www.stltoday.com
