Judge Gives Four-Year Sentence to Man Who Killed Good Samaritan in Burre Center Skateboard Attack, but With Time Served He Could Be Out in as Little as a Year lostcoastoutpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lostcoastoutpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Posted By Kimberly Wear@kimberly wear on Wed, May 5, 2021 at 4:56 PM A Humboldt County jury today found a man guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Bernhard “Ben” Bertain, who died on Christmas in 2018, three days after interceding in an altercation at the Burre Center in Eureka.
Bertain, 58, was struck several times with a skateboard by Jason Ryan Barnes, now 48, while coming to the side of a laundromat employee who was standing between Barnes and a woman he was screaming in the parking lot, according to police reports at the time and a release from the Humboldt County District Attorney s Office.
On May 5, 2021, a Humboldt County jury found
Jason Ryan Barnes, age 48, of Eureka, guilty of one count of involuntary manslaughter for the homicide of Bernhard “Ben” Bertain and two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon. The jury also found true the special allegations that Mr. Barnes personally caused great bodily injury or death and personally used a deadly weapon.
Barnes had been charged with second degree murder. Prior to jury deliberations, Judge Timothy Canning acquitted Mr. Barnes of that charge and the lesser included charge of voluntary manslaughter. Thus, the jurors returned guilty verdicts on the most serious charges they were allowed to consider.
Judge Drops Murder Charges Against Suspect in Deadly Skateboard Attack on Good Samaritan
Midway through the jury trial of Jason Ryan Barnes, the judge has acquitted Barnes of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.
Judge Timothy Canning’s ruling this morning leaves jurors to consider only charges of involuntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon in the death of Bernhard “Ben” Bertain, who died three days after Barnes struck him with a skateboard in December 2018.
Barnes.
Deputy District Attorney Roger Rees had just rested his case for the prosecution when Deputy Publc Defender David Celli argued, with the jury out of the courtroom, that Rees had not presented evidence justifying either a murder or voluntary manslaughter charge. There was no evidence Barnes acted with malice, Celli said, and no evidence that an objective observer would believe striking someone with a skateboard would cause death.