THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260647
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
A Rocky Mount man who beat his uncle to death with a wooden cane pleaded guilty Thursday to second-degree murder during a hearing in Pasquotank Superior Court.
Christopher Lee Barnes, who turned 20 this month, also pleaded guilty to robbery with a deadly weapon. Under a plea agreement, he was sentenced to a combined prison term of 20 to 25 years for the two crimes.
Barnes was apparently under the influence of crack cocaine when he repeatedly struck Harold M. Copeland at his Winfall home on March 11, 1995.
Crying as he talked, Barnes told Superior Court Judge Jerry Tillet that Copeland, an uncle through marriage, ``was more like a father to me.''
``No one put a gun to my head and made me do drugs,'' Barnes said, adding minutes later that ``I just wish - I would like - to help kids get off drugs.''
Barnes, a redhead dressed in a blue shirt, tie, khaki pants and loafers, also was ordered to repay $460 he stole from Copeland, and pay $10,000 in attorney fees.
Assistant District Attorney Robert Trivette said that testimony during a trial would have shown Barnes had just been released from a drug treatment center, because of an insurance problem, when he went to visit Copeland at his Perquimans County home.
On the day of the attack, Richard Copeland, the victim's son, learned Barnes had been driving his father's truck, and investigated. He found his father bloody and barely alive on the kitchen floor, Trivette said.
Copeland, 77, was taken to Albemarle Hospital, where he was treated by neurosurgeon Randall Sherman. ``It was as bad a head injury as Dr. Sherman had ever seen,'' Trivette said.
Copeland died when he was taken off a life-support system after his wife returned from an out-of-town trip.
Ann Copeland was not in the courtroom Thursday. ``She did not want to be here for the plea. She obviously had strong emotions about both sides of this case,'' Trivette told the judge.
Barnes was found three days later in Rocky Mount and confessed to killing his uncle, but he said he did not remember why he did it.
Barnes also said he used a frying pan to assault Copeland, but a wooden cane with a heavy brass handle was believed to be the murder weapon.
Barnes also had cut the two phone lines in Copeland's house before the attack and had taken $460 cash from the premises, the prosecutor said.
``He is, and has been, truly remorseful about this thing,'' said defense attorney Samuel B. Dixon of Edenton. Dixon said Barnes cried every time his uncle's death was discussed.
``The entire event was out of character for him,'' said Edenton attorney W. Hackney High Jr., also a defense attorney. Barnes had no prior criminal record or history of violence, he said. by CNB