GUILTY FL - April Barber, 27, shot to death on beach, St Johns County, 17 Aug 2002

  • #121
izzyB said:
Guilty!!!!
I guess that old Justin isn't as smart as he thought he was. Of course, the jury did deliberate for an awfully long time. So, he can be proud of that. :rolleyes:

I wonder when they will sentence him. Please post any links as I will be out of pocket next week!!

I'm not sure if I would like this guy to get the death sentence. He would suffer more with a LWOP sentence, IMO.

I am thinking because there was such a struggle with a few jurors that they may not give him death anyway.

This is justice for April although it doesn't bring her back. :(
 
  • #122
i have been away from the computer for a while, but i thought i read that sentencing would be immediately after the verdict was read, so nanandjim i will post if i find out anything today.
 
  • #123
  • #124
Sniffy38 said:
Court TV announced that Barber will be sentenced on Monday. Cudos to the jury! Remember, they were all death qualified at the beginning. Justice for his dear, sweet wife! :woohoo: :woohoo:


yes i was just returning to post this.

i am thankful for this verdict b/c the defense appeared to have a strong case since the judge did not allow in all of the evidence and two cars were seen at the crime scene. but this guy is 1000% guilty and this jury, after days of deliberation came to the same conclusion. i am wondering though, if they will go with LWOP just to satisfy a possible juror who might have had just a tiny doubt left. i am speculating for sure, and i guess we will see on monday! in the mean time i know this is a blessed day for April's family.
 
  • #125
izzyB said:
Guilty!!!!



Thanks so much for all the informative updates, IzzyB - you're the best! :D

I almost made the trip up to the St. Augustine area to attend this trial but, since it was being televised, decided instead to follow it on CTV.

I'm so glad that here in Fla, we actually hold Court '5 days a week' and allow our jurors to deliberate into the evening hours as well as deliberating on weekends.

I am always exasperated by the screwy liberal laws in California - like taking the liberty of taking Fridays off from Court, long delays afforded the defense attys and short hours of deliberation for jurors. A very lazy, slow & inefficient court system, imo. I won't even get started on my opinion of their almost non-existent timing of death penalty executions.

Anyway, (sorry for rant!) Thanks again for providing such timely info, Izzy. I hadn't heard anything on our local TV channels prior to your post.

So very glad this not-so-clever scheming, lying murderer didn't get away with his brutal crime! Way to go, jurors!!! :dance: I think they'll be 'even more sure' of reaching the correct verdict when they learn of all the additional facts that were kept from them in the courtroom.


13th Juror
 
  • #126
  • #127
Thanks for posting this information. I kept watching TV, but I missed hearing that the jurors had reached a verdict.

What a sad story, but at least this creep is going to have to pay for what he has done. And here we have yet another man with no prior criminal record...I get so tired of hearing defense attorneys (and others) blather on and on about how they couldn't be guitly because they've never done anything like this before. It does happen, and it seems like it happens a lot these days. Have none of these idiots heard of divorce????
 
  • #128
Very quick testimony in the penalty phase -- about an hour -- prosecution called a few victim impact witnesses, defense chose not to call any witnesses on Justin's behalf. Defense closing argument was different, defense said they didn't think they would be there, they're shocked at the verdict. No character witnesses for defense because they feel he was wrongfully convicted and Justin will not put his family through testifying on his behalf for a crime he did not commit.
 
  • #129
jean casaras for CTV also reported that justin's family did not stand for the jury when they left the box after this penalty phase. BIG mistake IMHO.
 
  • #130
CordovaMom said:
Very quick testimony in the penalty phase -- about an hour -- prosecution called a few victim impact witnesses, defense chose not to call any witnesses on Justin's behalf. Defense closing argument was different, defense said they didn't think they would be there, they're shocked at the verdict. No character witnesses for defense because they feel he was wrongfully convicted and Justin will not put his family through testifying on his behalf for a crime he did not commit.
Wouldn't you always prepare for the worst case scenario as well as the best? Can't believe his family wouldn't want to shout out Justin's innocence. Kind of an arrogant non-strategy to say and do [not standing for jurors] nothing.
 
  • #131
luvbeaches said:
Have none of these idiots heard of divorce????
Yes, they have.

They also know about 2 million dollar insurance policies.

These guys just think they're too smart to get caught, I mean, they've never gotten caught at anything else they've done. For example, 5 affairs in 3 years of marriage. . . . etc. etc. etc.

May he rot in hell. I hope he's executed as soon as possible.

:furious:
 
  • #132
Jury has reached a verdict -- waiting for announcement
 
  • #133
recommend death penalty
 
  • #134
Another jury got it right! The Judge can still go against the jury's recommendation, however, and sentence him to LWOP. I have always been for the death sentence, just to let the murderer know that if you take a life, you will give yours. After just hearing Jean C. say that the prison in Fl. is not air-conditioned, I'm beginning to think it would be more torturous to just let him rot there, in general population.

I hope that April's family will now feel that justice has been served.
 
  • #135
Prayers and adaptation for both families of this hideous and senseless tragedy, there are never any winners in a case such as this. It was a just verdict, imo

RIP April...
6.gif
 
  • #136
I agree, V. Thanks for reminding us about April.
 
  • #137
Sniffy38 said:
Another jury got it right! The Judge can still go against the jury's recommendation, however, and sentence him to LWOP. I have always been for the death sentence, just to let the murderer know that if you take a life, you will give yours. After just hearing Jean C. say that the prison in Fl. is not air-conditioned, I'm beginning to think it would be more torturous to just let him rot there, in general population.

I hope that April's family will now feel that justice has been served.

I have thought about the pros and cons for the Death Penalty and fully feel some murderers should get just that and JB is one of them. Imo when one premeditates their murder it is as cold, callous and heinous as it can get.

I dont care how many appeals they may get or how long it takes to get to the execution. Imo it is more important that they are properly marked as being a dead man walking and it will be in their minds everyday of their useless lives.

Let them walk that Green Mile knowing death awaits them for they are nothing but scum and low life cowards.

To me it becomes a two prong punishment. Long confinement under extreme conditions for a long time but death on a gurney in the end awaits them.

IMO

Ocean
 
  • #138
First off, sorry for reviving an old thread. I hope this is not against the policies. This is my first post. I recently read that he's getting a new trial, so I assume this can be considered back in the news?

Well, I can not believe he's found guilty, and am very glad to hear that he's getting a new trial. I don't know if he's innocent or not, but I certainly do not think there's enough evidence against him. Nothing they have against him is ironclad.

1. The best evidence against him was the google search. But he didn't actually search how to inflict self injury without killing oneself, he searched some terms like chest, gunshot wounds, etc. a whole 6 months before the killing. I think it's a stretch to take that to mean he was researching about inflicting self injury. I would have been more convinced if they could prove that he had printed an article on the subject, or accessed it again more recently.

2. The blood flow proves NOTHING. she was left on the boardwalk for the longest period of time, so of course the blood would flow down as gravity would. He carried her and dragged her the rest of the time, I assume her body would be on his side so the blood would flow the same direction. Whatever blood came from the initial shooting could have easily been washed off in the water.

3. He only owes $50k. Who in their right mind would kill because of that, when he made over $100k a year??

4. So he has a mistress. Most married men do. Most married men do not kill their wives. The best thing they could say against him from the mistress was that she did not initially know he was married. Why would she? What kind of pompous 🤬🤬🤬 would he be if the first thing he tells a woman is that he's married?

5. Nowhere did they indicate that he knows how to use a gun, let alone be very accurate with it.

6. I thought that we can use forensics to determine when someone self inflict an injury. You can tell from the angle the bullet enters and speed (based on the depth of the bullet?) to determine how far away the shooter is. Why was this not done?

7. So the two witnesses who saw the second car couldn't agree on the color. Don't surprise me that much. It was dark. I've often mistaken cars colors in the dark of night. The important piece of info here is that there's another car.

8. He missed the McDonald's, Walgreens and Shell. But it sounds like to me he stopped at the first major intersection. It's not surprising to miss McD, Walgreens and Shell when you are in shock, driving 75 mph. I really don't see how this can be used against him.

I can go on.
 
  • #139
4. So he has a mistress. Most married men do. Most married men do not kill their wives.

You're kidding, right? Most married men do not have mistresses. Most married men WHO KILL THEIR WIVES have mistresses though. I'll give you that.

I was not aware Barber was getting a new trial. I think he is guilty as sin. Another one of those "random attacks" where the wife is killed and the husband barely gets injured. Yes. Happens every day. Yeah. Sure.
 
  • #140
You're kidding, right? Most married men do not have mistresses. Most married men WHO KILL THEIR WIVES have mistresses though. I'll give you that.

I was not aware Barber was getting a new trial. I think he is guilty as sin. Another one of those "random attacks" where the wife is killed and the husband barely gets injured. Yes. Happens every day. Yeah. Sure.

Okay, I may have exaggerated a bit when I said "most", but last I checked about 1/3 of husbands cheat on their wives.
 

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