GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A Gaston County judge resentenced a 64-year-old man to seven to 20 years in prison for crimes committed more than four decades ago.
Lester Barnett pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery, safecracking, misdemeanor larceny, and felony assault in February 1981. He was originally sentenced to seven years to life in prison.
But a judge has now shortened his sentence to seven to 20 years. But he remains incarcerated for a separate first-degree murder conviction, for which he must first finish serving a life sentence.
That previous life sentence was handed down in December 1980 following a first-degree murder conviction in Mecklenburg County. Barnett has remained in the North Carolina prison system since those convictions.
Superior Court Judge David Phillips vacated the original sentence after the North Carolina Court of Appeals ordered a new hearing due to Barnett’s age at the time of the charges. Barnett was 18 when he was arrested and 19 when he was convicted of the Gaston County offenses, court officials said.
Rocky Lutz, the attorney who represented Barnett at the resentencing hearing, said the new Gaston County sentence does not automatically result in the 64-year-old’s release from custody. Lutz noted that Barnett’s freedom remains tied to the status of his earlier murder conviction.
“Whether or not Barnett gets out of prison will depend on whether his life sentence in Mecklenburg County is modified,” Lutz said.
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