Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 31, 1995 TAG: 9508310043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
Norfolk Circuit Judge William F. Rutherford on Tuesday sentenced Barnabei to die for the September 1993 slaying of Old Dominion University student Sarah J. Wisnosky, a freshman from Lynchburg who had dated Barnabei.
Barnabei read his speech, which included quotes from the Bible and the Greek philosopher Socrates, from a notebook. He stood at the defense table surrounded by sheriff's deputies.
``It amazes me how the lies continue ... and how the lies permeate the whole case,'' Barnabei said.
``This man is the liar,'' he said, pointing to Commonwealth's Attorney Charles Griffith, who prosecuted the case. ``My trial has not revealed the truth.''
Before Barnabei read his statement, Griffith said: ``The evidence is he cares about one person, and that's himself. ... Underneath that slick exterior, he's a cold and heartless user and abuser, and now a killer.''
A jury in June convicted Barnabei, 28, of capital murder and rape. The jury recommended he receive the death penalty.
Police discovered Wisnosky's body floating face-down Sept. 22, 1993, in the Lafayette River. She had been struck at least 10 times in the face and head with a blunt object, possibly a hammer.
Barnabei and Wisnosky met and began dating about two weeks before her death, while he was recruiting members and organizing parties for the TKE fraternity at ODU.
Although there was no direct evidence linking Barnabei to the young woman's death, her blood was found on his bed frame and the walls of his room in a house near ODU. Wisnosky had left her roommate a note the night before her death saying she planned to stay with Barnabei.
Barnabei, who had come to Virginia from his parents' home in Somers Point, N.J., left Norfolk the same day Wisnosky was killed. He was arrested three months later in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
Barnabei said he knew who committed the murder. He named a fraternity member and another man who, he said, had been spurned by Wisnosky after making advances. But sloppy police work failed to turn up these suspects, Barnabei said.
Barnabei accused prosecutors of painting a false picture of his relationship with Wisnosky and telling jurors half-truths or outright lies during the four-week trial.
``A conviction became a golden opportunity to boost ratings and to sell papers,'' Barnabei said, calling the publicity his case has received a ``media feeding frenzy.''
Nearing the end of his diatribe, Barnabei called Rutherford the ``most ignorant, shallow man that has ever heralded a judiciary.''
The ruling ``will not alter the lasting hell you will be living in from this point forward,'' Rutherford said to the Wisnosky and Barnabei families before pronouncing sentence.
James Broccoletti, Barnabei's attorney, said the case has several grounds for an appeal, including errors in the court's instructions to the jury and in evidence.
Barnabei's was the first death sentence handed down in Norfolk in 16 years.
by CNB