Judge Praised by Grieving Friends

Judge Rowland Barnes was a warm, caring man who didn’t know the meaning of judicial reserve, at least off the bench, friends and neighbors said Friday. In skits at the local bar association’s charity fundraisers, Barnes shed his black robe to appear in his skivvies.

When a Latino family from Southern California moved in next door, he took a personal interest in their well-being.

“Whenever I would go away, I would tell him that my mother would be alone. And he would say: ‘OK, no problem, I’ll check up on her,’ ” said Ignacio Bahena, 27, formerly of Santa Ana.

Last year, when Hurricane Ivan caused flooding and power outages throughout the Atlanta area, the Superior Court judge called his neighbors on Lyle Road to see if they needed anything.

From the leafy suburb of College Park, where the judge lived, to the downtown offices of leading Georgia law firms, there was widespread shock and grief at Barnes’ death.

The 64-year-old judge was shot in his own courtroom, allegedly by a defendant whose rape trial he was overseeing. His court reporter and a sheriff’s deputy were also killed.

Atlanta Bar Assn. President William M. Ragland Jr. called Barnes a “giant in the legal community.”

Barnes handled his share of big cases, including a plea agreement last month that required a mother of seven -- who admitted killing her 5-week-old daughter -- to undergo an operation so she could have no more children.

In January, he handled the sentencing of hockey player Dany Heatley, who pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the death of an Atlanta Thrashers teammate.

“He kept the sense of fairness and hope alive every single day,” said lawyer David Wolfe, who knew Barnes for 15 years.

State Juvenile Court Judge Sanford Jones praised his friend, whose wedding he presided over 15 years ago, as a good judge and a good human being.

“He did not change when he went on the bench. He did not get robotic,” Jones said. “He was open to everyone.”

Jones spoke Friday afternoon outside Barnes’ brick home, where Barnes’ widow, Claudia, was secluded with family members and friends. Jones said that Claudia, who works for another judge as an administrative assistant, had been in the courthouse during the shootings.

Barnes, a 1972 law graduate of Emory University in Atlanta, worked first as a trial lawyer, then a county magistrate. In 1998, then-Gov. Zell Miller named him to the Fulton County Superior Court.

“It was because he was a good lawyer and a good judge, not because he had friends in the right places,” said Atlanta lawyer B.J. Bernstein.

Many lawyers Friday praised Barnes’ evenhandedness as well as his sense of humor. He was well-liked by courthouse staff.

The judge’s court reporter, Julie Ann Brandau -- who also was slain Friday -- was a single mother. In July 2002, Barnes praised her in a letter to the food section of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper for her culinary gifts.

“Every day of every trial, she creates something special for our jurors,” the judge wrote. “The staff and I are sometimes jealous of her attentions to the jury and lament the usual lack of leftovers.”

In the single-story brick home on Lyle Road that Bahena’s mother, Enriquetta Rojel Linares, moved into in 1998, the family sat silently Friday afternoon when the television flashed a picture of their slain next-door neighbor. The mother’s eyes filled with tears. She remembered giving the judge a blanket a few Christmases ago.

“He treated us like equals,” said daughter Lucrecia Guzman, 21.

When Ignacio Bahena, who works for an airline caterer, was between jobs, the judge gave him his name and phone number to use as a reference.

When a cousin got in trouble in high school four years ago, Barnes drove the rebellious teen to school for a month and counseled him to get an education and a career.

“He is a judge, he has so many things to do. Imagine him taking the time for us,” Guzman said.

Barnes is survived by his wife, two adult daughters, stepchildren and two brothers. The family is “all very upset,” Jones said, adding, “They’re doing better than I would be.”

Times staff writer Elizabeth Mehren in Boston and researcher Jenny Jarvie in Atlanta contributed to this report.