We previously discussed the horrific abduction of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither from a street in Philadelphia and the fear that such an offender would be unlikely to leave the 22-year-old nurse alive. It was wonderful news last night therefore to learn that Carlesha had been rescued by federal officers and is now at home with her family. The alleged abductor is Delvin Barnes, 37, who has a long history of violence against women and other crimes. Notably, however, it was not his criminal recidivism but his bad debt that proved his undoing.
Barnes was captured (and Carlesha rescued) in the same Ford Taurus shown on the videotape from the abduction. Police then released photos from a cash machine and a store as they closed in on Barnes. He was finally tracked down in a Jessup, Maryland, parking lot Wednesday afternoon. Carlesha was injured but listed in otherwise good condition.
Notably, the authorities were able to track the Taurus through a GPS device placed inside the vehicle by the car dealership. Barnes, not surprisingly, has bad credit and the GPS is a standard protection for car dealers.
Barnes has a long record. He is actually being held on an warrant for attempted murder of a 16-year-old girl last month in Charles City County, Virginia. He was arrested in in November 2005 on a slew of charges including rape, burglary, aggravated assault, making terroristic threats and reckless endangerment. He was accused of beating, sexual assaulting, and holding captive his estranged wife (and mother of his child) who was under a protection order. After the woman was able to call her parents, they ran to the house only to be beaten by Barnes. He was eventually found guilty of aggravated assault, criminal trespassing, false imprisonment and related charges. That was just nine years ago this month.
Only two weeks ago, Virginia officials dropped charges against Barnes for making a bomb threat. It was later reduced to mere trespassing and then dropped entirely. It is not clear what was involved in that charge but there is a report that four days later Barnes was linked in Charles City County, Virginia to the abduction, rape and torture of a 16-year-old girl. She was later found naked, bloody and covered in burns smelling of bleach and gasoline. DNA linked the crime to Barnes.
Given that history, there is even greater reason to celebrate the survival of Carlesha though this harrowing and traumatic experience will no doubt leave lasting emotional scars. However, she is back with her family which worked so hard to find her.
As for Barnes, he is unlikely to be ever free again. Yet, there remains questions of how an individual with such proven violent propensities was able to stay at large while moving in and out of the criminal justice system.
Source: NBC
Okay,NICK. yOU’VE embarrassed yourself enough, and maybe you’ve learned a lesson about not saying things that you can’t back up.
i hope so. You post so many comments about anything and everything, I suppose it’s understandable that you don’t have time to consider whether they make sense or not.
Have a good day, and remember: Cigarette life if you don’t weaken.
Definitely played pee wee football. That explains it.
“not surprisingly” ?!?!?
It’s always 5 o’clock somewhere.
NICK,
stop hiding. you said something that makes no sense, and when you were asked to say what you meant, you pretended not to know about it. Stop bloviating long enough to deal with the question raised by YOUR comment.
Nicky —
Don’t wimp out. Stop being a “post bs, then run” blowhard.
ns – kindly explain what you mean, by way of giving an example of an issue e.g.
income tax. as you see it, what’s the weakness on the left and on the right.
Thanks, I’ll hold. Go ahead.
If he was with her when discovered, and she identified him as her abductor, I feel no guilt in assuming his Guilt! The public should be assured he is in jail and going nowhere until a trial. Hopefully, he’ll plead guilty, but not with prosecutor deal. I do not presume him innocent due to finding the girl with him and her identification.
But Karen that is exactly what I mean, there may no question he was the kidnapper, given the info the media is presenting but he is not guilty until he pleads or a court of law finds him so.
Better 10 guilty go free then one innocent be imprisoned. It is for the protection of all that we wait for a court or admission. Even at that look how many have been freed within the last few years because DNA, not available, or permitted when they were arrested but has proven their innocence. (Or misbehavior by police, prosecutors, etc)
Lee:
I agree that it’s a problem to assume someone is guilty without waiting for an investigation.
It’s my understanding, however, that they rescued her from him, and that there’s no question that he was the kidnapper. Let me know if I am wrong . . .
Absolutely prof has every right to write and say whatever he wants. I just find it odd that an attorney would find someone guilty from the get go.
I have been seeing on TV, the news, and listening to plain old folks too often decide someone is guilty without acknowledging that is not how this country works and honestly it worries me. We are losing rights, let’s hope this one of innocent until proven does not become one of them After all, Scalia has already decreed, “innocence is no bar to execution”
leej, Innocent until proven guilty is the sacred duty of the judicial system and a jury of ones peers. JT is an attorney but also a human being and citizen of this country. He has every right to say what he thinks in this venue, not being a part of the proceedings. This is merely a blog, giving ones thoughts is what it is for. Being an attorney does not make him any different than a “sewer cleaner.”
I am so glad she was found and okay, absent the emotional scars that hopefully can be dealt with. I am surprised that the professor would write he will never be free again. I thought in this country you were innocent until proven guilty. This guy is a bum no matter how you look at it (for lack of a word that would be civil yet still describe him based on his record but he has not been adjudicated guilty, or acknowledged guilt.
The hard part to accept is that some men are irredeemable, at least as to being able to function in society.
Prison for life (no parole), or the death penalty.
Prison should be about rehabilitation first. However, when a certain point has been reached a criminal, or whatever one wishes to label them, should be kept away from the innocent public for the simple reason of the safety of the public comes first. This guy proved he is beyond rehabilitation. It is not so much that he should be punished by spending the rest of his life in prison, but that we should be protected for the rest of his dangerous life. If he could have been rehabilitated and like an innocent man being executed, we must accept that no system is perfect and all a society can do is strive for the least imperfect. To let animals like this out among us is simply not acceptable. If he is mentally deranged then the point still stands. It is the safety of society that comes first, not the ideological or intellectual pursuits of religious types and brain fixers.
issac – I could not disagree more. Prison should be about punishment first, rehabilitation if they might eventually get out.
Echoing Karen’s sentiments. This woman will need a lot of support and caring during her recovery.
I am so glad she was found alive. She will be in my thoughts and prayers for her recovery and the healing of her spirit. She must have gone through hell.
Her parents must be over the moon to have her back safe.
Many prayers were answered. This was good police work. If another 24 hours or so transpired I think the outcome would have been tragic. In all investigations, the first 24-48 hours are the critical time. This was a red ball investigation. Lot’s of info. Lot’s of media. All hands on deck. I will say again, it is so heartening to me to see a black woman’s case be so high profile. The media usually reserves that for upscale white people. Black, Latino, and poor white folk’s cases don’t get the publicity like this one.The video surveillance was certainly part of that. It gave national news some compelling footage to put up on the screen. Without that publicity, I fear this would not have been a red ball. And, if it was not all hands on deck, it probably would have turned out much worse.
He has to be a football player.
Why won’t he ever be free again? He got out after raping, beating, and torturing a 16 year old girl, didn’t he?
So many people think that prison should be about rehabilitation, and not punishment.
I disagree. Prison protects the public by locking these people up, where they cannot harm us during the duration of their stay. If there is no punishment for crime, there is no reason not to engage in crime. If the only thing that happens to you, for example, if you rape a girl, is that you have to sit through boring lectures on respecting women, you’ll just keep doing it.
The penalties of the law keep at least some people from breaking it. For others, it’s supposed to teach them a lesson and give justice to the victims. And for some, like this guy, they clearly are a clear and present threat to the public, and should just never be let out.
JT – I don’t think I would jump too soon about how long he will spend in jail. Given how they have treated this man in the past, he could be out of jail in a week.
Remove his arms, and he’ll never do this again!!!