KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana |Benton Co. man averts murder trial, pleads guilty
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Associated Press - October 12, 2009 7:04 PM ET
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) - A capital murder trial has been called off after the defendant entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder.
Roger Dale Barrett was sentenced to 45 years in prison Monday after he pleaded guilty to killing his girlfriend nine years ago.
Benton County Circuit Judge David Clinger accepted a plea agreement between Prosecutor Van Stone and Barrett's attorney, Joel Huggins. Under that agreement, Barrett's sentence included enhanced penalties for firearm use, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence.
If convicted on the capital murder charge, Barrett would have been sentenced to life without parole and an additional 15 years as an enhanced penalty for using a firearm.
Barrett was convicted in 2001 in the Aug. 21, 2000, shooting death of Eunice Belinda "Yogi" Bradley. That verdict was overturned, however, and a new trial ordered.
Jurors found that Barrett shot the woman during a heated argument and then set her body afire in a field near Highfill.
Information from: The Morning News, http://www.nwaonline.net/
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