
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, November 14, 1995                   TAG: 9511140113
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JARRATT                                LENGTH: Medium

KILLER OF 2 PUT TO DEATH

Virginia executed Herman C. Barnes by lethal injection Monday for murdering a Hampton supermarket owner and a store clerk during an attempted robbery in 1985.

Barnes was pronounced dead at 10:11 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Warden John M. Jabe said.

Barnes, accompanied by guards and his minister, walked into the death chamber at 9:52 p.m. After being strapped to a gurney, Barnes lifted his head, peered toward the witness booth, then looked around the room with a resigned expression.

His last words were ``Thank you, Jesus.'' The lethal injection began at 10:04 p.m.

Barnes, 31, was convicted of capital murder in July 1986 for killing supermarket owner Clyde Jenkins, 72, and clerk Mohammad Afifi, 42.

Barnes burst into the store shortly after 10 p.m. June 27, 1985. When Jenkins saw Barnes, who was wearing a nylon stocking over his head, a struggle ensued. Barnes shot Jenkins twice. As Jenkins tried to get up from the floor, Barnes shot him a third time.

Afifi ran from the back of the store and jumped on Barnes, who turned and shot him.

Barnes was the 29th person executed in Virginia since the state resumed executions in 1982, and the third in 11/2 months.

In January 1994, U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer of Richmond overturned Barnes' death sentence, saying prosecutors suppressed evidence at his trial. The evidence was a gun found under Jenkins' body.

Prosecutors said Barnes never indicated he thought Jenkins was armed, but Spencer said Barnes' attorneys could have used the evidence during sentencing to argue their client was confronted by an armed man.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond reinstated Barnes' death sentence this year. Barnes appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the high court rejected his appeal without comment late last week.

Gov. George Allen delayed the scheduled 9 p.m. execution for a ruling on Barnes' request Monday for a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court. The court denied the request without dissent at 9:25 p.m.

Allen rejected Barnes' petition for clemency Monday night.

by CNB