Post by CCADP on Aug 16, 2005 7:55:10 GMT -5
Rapist pleads no contest in 1989 murder
By Ben Neary | The New Mexican
August 16, 2005
A man already serving two life sentences for rape pleaded no contest Monday to murder and other charges in the 1989 slaying of a Santa Fe woman.
Chris McClendon, a former Santa Fe ski instructor, entered the pleas to the kidnapping, rape and murder of Tracy Barker, 22, in an agreement with prosecutors that spares him a possible death sentence.
District Judge Michael Vigil on Monday accepted McClendon’s no-contest pleas, which mean McClendon didn’t admit guilt b u t a c k n o w l - edged prosecutors would have enough evidence to convict him at trial.
Five years ago, Vigil sentenced M c C l e n d o n t o two consecutive life sentences on rape convictions stemming from his abduction of a waitress from a Santa Fe bar. On Monday, the judge sentenced McClendon to another life sentence for the Barker slaying, to be served concurrently with the previous sentence.
“Your crime is horrible,” Vigil told McClendon. “I’m sure if we delved into your psyche, we would find an explanation for it. I don’t know what good it would do us at this point.”
McClendon killed Barker, a single mother, after she finished working the night shift at a restaurant on Santa Fe’s south side. Authorities at the time focused attention on Dane Clark Collins, Barker’s stepfather.
Police charged Collins with Barker’s murder and held him in jail for five months. Although charges against Collins were ultimately dropped, he lost his job at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and he and his wife, Brenda, lost their house and moved from Santa Fe.
Dan Cron, a Santa Fe defense lawyer, had represented Collins against the original charges. Cron addressed Vigil on Monday, saying May 2, 1989, started a 16-year nightmare for both Barker and the Collins family .
“Whenever he would apply for a job and they would find out that he had been charged with murder, that was the end of it,” Cron said of Collins.
Cron said the Collins family didn’t want to pursue the death penalty against McClendon because of the knowledge they gained, “of how close an innocent person came to walking in those shoes.”
Cron credited New Mexico State Police Agent Shayne Arthur as well as officers Tony Trujillo and Gary Johnson of the Santa Fe Police Department with pursuing the investigation into Barker’s death.
In 2002, the city police suggested that Arthur check evidence on the Barker case. Lab tests found a match between McClendon’s DNA collected from earlier rape cases and DNA samples taken from Barker’s body.
“I’ll say that if DNA had not brought his name up, I don’t think he ever would have popped up on our radar,” Arthur said of McClendon after Monday’s court hearing.
“I feel really good for the (Collins) family,” Arthur said. “They’ve always known that they didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Before Monday’s plea hearing , McClendon spoke privately with Cron about details of Barker’s murder. Cron refused to comment on the meeting and said no one in the Collins family wanted to comment .
D e f e n s e l a w y e r G a r y Mitchell told Judge Vigil that McClendon had talked to Cron. “We have said our piece there, and we would like to keep it that way,” Mitchell said.
Cron said after the hearing that he regarded the case as showing both the best and worst of the legal system: The worst in the prosecution of an innocent man, “and the best in that a killer was finally brought to justice.”
By Ben Neary | The New Mexican
August 16, 2005
A man already serving two life sentences for rape pleaded no contest Monday to murder and other charges in the 1989 slaying of a Santa Fe woman.
Chris McClendon, a former Santa Fe ski instructor, entered the pleas to the kidnapping, rape and murder of Tracy Barker, 22, in an agreement with prosecutors that spares him a possible death sentence.
District Judge Michael Vigil on Monday accepted McClendon’s no-contest pleas, which mean McClendon didn’t admit guilt b u t a c k n o w l - edged prosecutors would have enough evidence to convict him at trial.
Five years ago, Vigil sentenced M c C l e n d o n t o two consecutive life sentences on rape convictions stemming from his abduction of a waitress from a Santa Fe bar. On Monday, the judge sentenced McClendon to another life sentence for the Barker slaying, to be served concurrently with the previous sentence.
“Your crime is horrible,” Vigil told McClendon. “I’m sure if we delved into your psyche, we would find an explanation for it. I don’t know what good it would do us at this point.”
McClendon killed Barker, a single mother, after she finished working the night shift at a restaurant on Santa Fe’s south side. Authorities at the time focused attention on Dane Clark Collins, Barker’s stepfather.
Police charged Collins with Barker’s murder and held him in jail for five months. Although charges against Collins were ultimately dropped, he lost his job at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and he and his wife, Brenda, lost their house and moved from Santa Fe.
Dan Cron, a Santa Fe defense lawyer, had represented Collins against the original charges. Cron addressed Vigil on Monday, saying May 2, 1989, started a 16-year nightmare for both Barker and the Collins family .
“Whenever he would apply for a job and they would find out that he had been charged with murder, that was the end of it,” Cron said of Collins.
Cron said the Collins family didn’t want to pursue the death penalty against McClendon because of the knowledge they gained, “of how close an innocent person came to walking in those shoes.”
Cron credited New Mexico State Police Agent Shayne Arthur as well as officers Tony Trujillo and Gary Johnson of the Santa Fe Police Department with pursuing the investigation into Barker’s death.
In 2002, the city police suggested that Arthur check evidence on the Barker case. Lab tests found a match between McClendon’s DNA collected from earlier rape cases and DNA samples taken from Barker’s body.
“I’ll say that if DNA had not brought his name up, I don’t think he ever would have popped up on our radar,” Arthur said of McClendon after Monday’s court hearing.
“I feel really good for the (Collins) family,” Arthur said. “They’ve always known that they didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Before Monday’s plea hearing , McClendon spoke privately with Cron about details of Barker’s murder. Cron refused to comment on the meeting and said no one in the Collins family wanted to comment .
D e f e n s e l a w y e r G a r y Mitchell told Judge Vigil that McClendon had talked to Cron. “We have said our piece there, and we would like to keep it that way,” Mitchell said.
Cron said after the hearing that he regarded the case as showing both the best and worst of the legal system: The worst in the prosecution of an innocent man, “and the best in that a killer was finally brought to justice.”