October 18, 2017- Commonwealth v Kwame L. Barnes:  Kwame Barnes appeared before Dauphin County Judge Deborah E. Curcillo on Wednesday, October 18, 2017, to be re-sentenced after the Superior Court, for a second time, overturned a portion of his original 25 year to 50 year sentence.   The victim and her family testified during the emotional sentencing proceedings before Judge Curcillo resentenced Barnes to 20 to 40 years in prison.

The sentenced was the maximum punishment allowed by law.  On appeal for a second time, the Superior Court ruled that Barnes could not be sentenced to an enhanced penalty for criminal attempt homicide after it ruled that the verdict slip in Barnes’ case was not sufficient enough to warrant the increased penalty.  In 2014, the Superior Court ruled that Barnes had to be resentenced due to the fact that the charge of aggravated assault merged with the criminal attempt homicide charge.  In 2014, Judge Curcillo readjusted her sentence to once again equal 25 to 50 years in prison.  During Wednesday's sentencing hearing, Barnes requested that Judge Curcillo consider sentencing him to a sentence below the maximum because he had turned his life around during the past 7 years he has spent in prison.

Moments before Judge Curcillo handed down her sentence, the victim, standing just feet away from Barnes, first addressed Judge Curcillo before directly addressing Barnes.  She described how Barnes’ assault drastically changed her life.  How she was once a very outgoing person who now finds herself reserved and cautious around others.  She talked about both her physical injuries as well as the emotional scars that are still healing.  Despite the lasting effects she still feels from the attack, the victim described herself to Judge Curcillo as a survivor.       

Barnes was convicted on February 28, 2012, for strangling his ex-girlfriend and leaving her for dead in a Swatara Township recycling bin under the State Street Bridge in Harrisburg.  Testimony at trial established that on December 19, 2010, Barnes was in the 15 year old victim's home when he tried to kill her by beating her and then putting her in a headlock type stranglehold.  The victim lost consciousness and Barnes thought she was dead.  When the victim regained consciousness Barnes again strangled her until he once again he thought he had killed her.  He then put her body in the recycling bin and attempted to hide her body under the State Street Bridge.  After Barnes drove away the victim regained consciousness and made her way to the street where she flagged down a passing motorist.

The victim suffered severe injuries as a result of Barnes’ assault.  It was determined that she had a fractured vertebrae, her face was unrecognizable due to how badly she had been beaten and she could barely speak because her tongue was so swollen.  She was also suffering from hypothermia due to her exposure to the cold December weather.

 While arguing for the maximum punishment during this week’s resentencing hearing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Seán McCormack recounted for Judge Curcillo the details of Barnes’ crime and showed her photographs of the injuries Barnes inflicted upon the victim.  “The only reason the victim is alive today is because when Kwame Barnes discarded the victim in a recycling bin under the State Street Bridge he thought she was already dead.”  McCormack also pointed out that at Barnes’ original sentencing proceeding, Barnes told the court he was remorseful for his actions and he was ready to accept whatever punishment the court handed out to him only for him to later to turn around and twice appeal his sentence.     

“To quote the victim’s grandmother at today’s sentencing hearing, ‘every action has a consequence’.  Kwame Barnes’ actions have caused a lifetime of consequences to not only himself but also to his victim.  Twenty to forty years in prison are the consequences of Barnes’ own actions.  The maximum sentence imposed today properly takes into account the severity of those actions.”