Judge Refuses to Order Jail Term in Molestation Case

Seeking to “err on the side of justice,” a judge on Friday refused to order any jail time for the head of a former shelter for runaways who was charged with child molestation and instead opted for a probation sentence.

Major Barnes II, 42, had pleaded no contest to charges that he molested three girls at the Laurel House in Tustin for troubled teen-agers. Under the plea agreement, he faced a maximum of a year in jail.

But Superior Court Judge John H. Smith Jr. said at Barnes’ sentencing that, with the evidence now before him, he was unable to determine one way or another if Barnes actually committed the acts.

“To put a person in custody based upon nothing more than I have in this case is untenable,” Smith said in overriding the request of the district attorney for jail time.

On the one hand, Smith said he had the firm belief that Barnes should go to prison if he had in fact molested three girls between the ages of 15 and 17 who were staying at the private, six-bed shelter for abandoned and runaway teen-agers.

But on the other hand, Smith said he had letters of support for Barnes from “prominent people in the community” and a lack of evidence to support the girls’ claims. The trial at which their allegations were to be heard was halted during jury selection when Barnes changed his plea to no contest.

“I’m really put in a position, aren’t I?” the judge said.

Facing Barnes, Smith said: “Only he in this room knows the truth of the matter . . . and he has to live with that.”

But in the end, unconvinced of Barnes’ guilt, Smith said: “I just can’t put this man in County Jail.”

Adding a cautionary note, however, the judge did place some restrictions on Barnes’ freedom. He ordered that Barnes serve a year’s probation, performs 100 hours of community service at a local YMCA, and stay away from the alleged victims in the case as well as any future youth counseling.

Wiping tears from his eyes as he left Smith’s courtroom, Barnes shared embraces one by one with a group of about a dozen family and friends.

“I’m going to relax my mind for a while. This has been quite an ordeal,” he told reporters.

Before Smith’s sentencing, defense attorney Byron McMillan had maintained that the charges against Barnes were merely the result of a misunderstanding between Barnes and the girls at the Tustin home.

“I think that he showed affection that could be misinterpreted . . . that he kissed them and held them” but did not molest them, McMillan said.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Dennis Bauer, asserting that Barnes had in fact molested the girls and alluding to other incidents as well, countered that Barnes should not have entered a plea of no contest if he was not prepared to accept responsibility for the acts.