Odell Barnes (criminal) - Appeals Process

Appeals Process

During Barnes' appeals process, two new attorneys were appointed to his case by a Federal court. European anti-death penalty activists contributed some $16,000 to his defense fund, and the new lawyers paid for forensic tests out of their own pocket. The new defense team uncovered deficiencies in the forensic evidence, serious errors and oversights by the original defense team, and problems with the credibility of prosecution witnesses.

• Barnes claimed at trial that he had never had sexual contact, consensual or forced, with Bass. DNA testing some years after the trial showed that the semen on her corpse was his. Barnes then claimed that he and Bass had an existing sexual relationship before the crime but on the advice of his original defense team he did not tell the jury.
• At trial, the jury had heard that a brand new lamp was found with Barnes' fingerprints on it. The new defense investigation found that the lamp had not been new, and that Barnes had visited Bass' house after she had bought it.
• The bloodstains found on Barnes' clothing, and confirmed by DNA to have been Bass's blood, were very small. This was inconsistent with the extremely violent nature of the killing and the amount of blood found at the scene. Tests revealed that the bloodstains contained an extremely high level of citric acid, which is used as a preservative in crime labs.
• The prosecution witness who identified Barnes trespassing at Bass's residence had given inconsistent testimony on different occasions, he described seeing Barnes some 45 minutes after Bass had already returned home.