Man sentenced to 15 years in stabbing death

John Wesley Barnes enters a plea of no contest to manslaughter as part of a deal with prosecutors.

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 21, 2000

LARGO -- A man who stabbed to death another man during a fight over a woman averted a possible 32-year prison sentence by pleading no-contest to a lesser charge in a deal with prosecutors.

John Wesley Barnes, 34, pleaded no-contest Monday to manslaughter and was sentenced by Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Mark I. Shames to 15 years in prison for the June 1998 stabbing death of Millard Brown.

Barnes had initially been charged by prosecutors with second-degree murder and faced up to 32 years in prison on that charge.

Barnes' attorney, Dyril Flanagan, said Barnes insisted he lashed out with a fillet knife in self-defense during a fight on Brown's front lawn on 145th Avenue N in Largo. The 50-year-old, stabbed once in the stomach, died seven hours later.

Earlier in the day, Barnes had broken up with his girlfriend, Lisa Lawson, who then went to Brown's home, police said.

After she had arrived at Brown's home, Brown and Barnes argued over the telephone.

Barnes, who worked as a trucker, went to Brown's house and grabbed Lawson on the front lawn, police said. Brown and a neighbor tried to separate the two, but Barnes brandished a 6-inch fillet knife and stabbed Brown, police said.

Flanagan said someone hit his client on the head with a bottle during the altercation, which might have supported his self-defense claim had the case gone to trial.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement tests on glass found at the scene could not confirm the presence of Barnes' blood on the glass.

But Flanagan said it was important that the possibility could not be excluded by prosecutors.

"It probably should have been charged as a manslaughter case from the beginning," Flanagan said in an interview.

Prosecutors who handled the case could not be reached for comment.

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