The Commission on Capital Cases updates this information regularly.  This information; however, is subject to change and may not reflect the latest status of an inmate’s case and should not be relied upon for statistical or legal purposes. 

 

BARNES James Phillip (W/M)

DC# 071551

DOB: 03/07/1962

 

Eighteenth Judicial Circuit, Brevard County Case # 06-14592

Sentencing Judge: The Honorable David W. Dugan

Attorney, Trial: Pro Se

Attorney, Direct Appeal: George D. E. Burden – Public Defender

Attorney, Collateral Appeals: TBA

 

Date of Offense: 04/20/88

Date of Sentence: 12/13/07

 

Circumstances of Offense:

 

James Barnes, the defendant, was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Patricia Patsy Miller on 12/13/07.

 

On 04/20/88, Barnes went to Miller’s condominium unit in Melbourne, Florida, took off all his clothes in order not to leave evidence, obtained entry by removing a screen, and entered through a bedroom window.  Barnes admitted he went there with the intent to rape and kill Miller.  Once inside, he armed himself with a knife from the kitchen.  After secretly watching Miller go about her normal activities for a short period of time, he confronted her in the bathroom and forced her at knife-point to the bedroom where he sexually battered her.  He then bound her hands behind her back using shoelaces he had removed from some tennis shoes, tied her feet together, and sexually battered her again.  Barnes admitted he tried unsuccessfully to strangle her to death with a belt he had removed from her terrycloth robe, so he bludgeoned the back of her head with a hammer he found in her bedroom.  Barnes confessed that he collected everything he touched in Miller’s residence, including the clothing Miller was wearing, and placed the articles in a bag.  Barnes then set fire to the bed where Miller’s body lay in order to eliminate forensic evidence left there.  Before leaving in his car, Barnes took all the items he had bagged, as well as the window screen he had removed, and left to dispose of the items at another location.

 

Shortly after 11:00 p.m., firefighters responded to a fire alarm at the condominium complex and found Miller’s charred body face down on the bed in her master bedroom.  Her hands were still bound behind her back with shoelaces.  The medical examiner testified that the cause of death was blunt-force trauma from multiple blows to Miller’s head. The blows were consistent with being beaten with a hammer.  Signs of attempted strangulation were also discovered in the autopsy.  The medical examiner determined that Miller’s body was set ablaze after she died from the multiple blows to her head.

 

Despite Barnes’ attempt to destroy forensic evidence by setting the bed ablaze, sperm was recovered from Miller and preserved for DNA testing.  Within one week of the murder, the police considered Barnes a suspect, and he was questioned by Sergeant Dennis Nichols of the Melbourne Police Department.  At that time, Barnes denied any involvement with the murder and agreed to give a sample of his blood for possible DNA comparison.  In 1988, however, the available method of DNA testing was inadequate to produce a match and the case remained unsolved.

 

In 1997, the sperm recovered from Miller was resubmitted for DNA testing and produced a positive match to Barnes.  Barnes was serving a life sentence for the 1997 first-degree strangulation murder of his wife, Linda Barnes.  Sergeant Nichols and Brevard Sheriff‘s Office Lieutenant Todd Goodyear traveled to the prison to speak with Barnes about the Miller murder, but he refused to speak to them.  For unspecified reasons, charges were not filed against Barnes for the Miller murder at this time.  He was not charged until after he wrote several letters to an assistant state attorney in 2005 and confessed in a recorded interview, which Barnes arranged and in which he was questioned by another inmate about the Miller murder.  In that videotaped interview on 11/01/05, Barnes admitted to the burglary, sexual batteries, murder, and arson.  During his interview, Barnes described with accuracy Miller’s physical appearance, the interior of the apartment, and specific objects he saw in the apartment.  Further, his descriptions of the homicide, the sexual batteries, and the arson were consistent with the evidence gathered by police.

 

Prior Incarceration History in the State of Florida:

 

Prison Sentence History:

Offense Date

Offense

Sentence Date

County

Case No.

Prison Sentence Length

12/03/1979

BURG/DWELL/OCCUP. CONVEY

12/03/1979

BREVARD

 

5Y 0M 0D

01/19/1982

BURG/DWELL/OCCUP. CONVEY

01/19/1982

BREVARD

 

5Y 0M 0D

11/25/1979

GRAND THEFT, $300 & LESS  $20,000

07/20/1990

BREVARD

8000248

2Y OM OD

04/16/1991

POSS.FIREARM BY FELON

04/14/1992

BREVARD

9107088

2Y 6M 0D

02/15/1992

GRAND THEFT,$300 LESS &20,000

06/18/1992

BREVARD

9203548

6Y 0M 0D

12/11/1997

1ST DG MUR/PREMED. OR ATT.

01/09/1998

BREVARD

9730638

SENTENCED TO LIFE

12/11/1997

FORGERY/UTTERING

01/09/1998

BREVARD

9730638

5Y 0M 0D

12/11/1997

UTTER FORGED INSTRUMENT

01/09/1998

BREVARD

9730638

5Y 0M 0D

12/11/1997

GRAND THEFT,300 L/5,000

01/09/1998

BREVARD

9730638

5Y 0M 0D

12/11/1997

TRAFFIC IN STOLEN PROPERTY

01/09/1998

BREVARD

9730638

15Y 0M 0D

12/04/1997

TRAFFIC IN STOLEN PROPERTY

06/08/2000

BREVARD

9820241

15Y 0M 0D

 

Trial Summary:

 

04/18/06          Indicted as follows:

                                    Count I:           First-Degree Murder

                                    Count II:         Burglary

                                    Count III:        Sexual Battery with Weapon or Force

                                    Count IV:        Sexual Battery with Weapon or Force

                                    Count V:         Arson

05/02/06          The defendant entered a plea of guilty and waived a sentencing jury

12/13/07          Sentenced as follows:

                                    Count I:           First-Degree Murder - Death

                                    Count II:         Burglary - Life

                                    Count III:        Sexual Battery with Weapon or Force - Life

                                    Count IV         Sexual Battery with Weapon or Force - Life

                                    Count V:         Arson – 30 years

 

Appeal Summary:

 

Florida Supreme Court – Direct Appeal

FSC# 08-63

29 So.3d 1010

 

01/14/08          Appeal filed

02/04/10          FSC affirmed the conviction and sentence

02/25/10          Mandate issued

 

United States Supreme Court – Petition for Writ of Certiorari

USSC# 10-5054

 

05/05/10          Petition filed

10/04/10          Petition denied

 

Case Information:

 

On 01/14/08, Barnes filed a Direct Appeal in the Florida Supreme Court. On appeal, Barnes raised two issues: whether the trial court violated Barnes’ Sixth Amendment right to represent himself when it appointed special court counsel to develop penalty-phase mitigation and whether the court reversibly erred in considering a presentence investigation report over Barnes’ objection that it contravened his constitutional right to confront witnesses against him. The Florida Supreme Court did not find errors that warranted reversing the conviction or sentence. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence on 02/04/10.

 

On 05/05/10, Barnes filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court. That petition was denied on 10/04/10.

________________________________________________________________________

 

Report Date:   02/19/10          KKR

Approved:       02/23/10          RM

Updated:         10/04/10          JJK