S.F. Man Convicted in Canada of Killing Employer on Boat

A San Francisco man was convicted in British Columbia Supreme Court of bludgeoning to death his wealthy employer on a cruise ship.

After Saturday’s verdict, one of the defense lawyers, Jeff Green, said an appeal will be filed this week for Robert Frisbee, convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Muriel Barnett, 80. Frisbee, 59, showed no reaction as Justice Lloyd McKenzie sentenced him to life in prison without eligibility for parole for 25 years.

Mrs. Barnett, widow of Phillip Barnett, a prominent San Francisco lawyer who left her $3.7 million, was found dead of massive head injuries Aug. 19, 1985, in the blood-spattered, $2,000-a-day cabin she shared with Frisbee aboard the Royal Viking Star.

“This is a most pathetic occasion for any person to face, and I am sure you are aware of the consequence of the jury’s verdict. It is not appropriate to add anything to the words of the Criminal Code, which reflects society’s condemnation and abhorrence of this most serious of crimes,” the judge said.

When McKenzie asked if he had anything to say, Frisbee replied: “Not a word, your lordship.”

Green called the verdict “quite harsh,” saying the evidence “was quite thin for first-degree murder.”

On Friday, the seven-woman, five-man jury asked to rehear evidence given by Mrs. Barnett’s lawyer. The evidence by Theodore Kolb concerned a new will that the widow was to sign when she returned to San Francisco.

The woman originally planned to leave Frisbee $250,000, but was persuaded to sign a codicil to her will, typed by Frisbee, giving him two-thirds of her estate, estimated at $6 million. The court was told that she planned to eliminate the amendment and reinstate the original $250,000 bequest. Her body was found by a butler shortly after the cruise ship left here for San Francisco after a trip to Alaska.

Frisbee, the woman’s private secretary and companion as well as her late husband’s private secretary and homosexual partner, was described in court as an alcoholic and frequent user of tranquilizers. He said he had taken a nap after having two stiff drinks and two Librium capsules and suggested to the butler that Mrs. Barnett had fallen and struck her head.

Defense lawyer William Deverell said the government’s case was “riddled with reasonable doubt” and that Frisbee is too timid to murder anyone.

Prosecutor Dennis Murray argued that Frisbee had acquired a taste for the expensive life style of San Francisco’s high society and killed Mrs. Barnett for her money.