BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A Brevard County man sentenced to death for the 1988 murder of a woman whom he sexually battered has finally received his execution date, according to state officials.
On Thursday, state documents were filed to confirm the execution date of Aug. 3 at 6 p.m. for James Phillip Barnes.
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Court records show in 1988, Barnes broke into a woman’s condo in Melbourne to rape and kill her.
He sexually battered her at knifepoint before tying her up, beating her to death with a hammer and setting fire to the bed her body was laid in to eliminate the evidence, the records state.
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Despite his attempts to burn the remains, forensic evidence taken from the scene pointed toward Barnes being the killer in 1997. At that time, Barnes was already serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife, Linda Barnes.
According to state records, Barnes wasn’t charged in the Melbourne murder until 2007 after he admitted to the crimes in a videotaped interview. Barnes was ultimately convicted and sentenced to death for that murder on Dec. 13, 2007.
Despite an appeal in 2008 and a petition in 2010, Barnes’ conviction and death sentence have been affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court.
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