In this post from September of last year, I related the story of Philadelphia Police Officer Walter Barclay who, in 1966, as a 23-year-old rookie cop, was shot repeatedly during an armed robbery. The violent attack left him a paraplegic until his death last year, when he died from complications from his wounds.
The man who murdered him, PoS William Barnes, was arrested, served a long sentence for attempted murder and was later released.
When Officer Barclay died last year, Barnes was again arrested and charged with the officer's murder.
This past week, Municipal Judge Bradley Moss ordered Barnes to stand trial for the murder and to remain in jail until the trial starts in mid-March.
Moss acknowledged that he found no other case in which a murder charge was filed so many years after the initial injury. Still, he cited courts elsewhere that ruled there was no time limit if an unbroken chain of events can be shown from the initial injury to death.
Assistant District Attorney Ed Cameron said that chain was unmistakable, with Barclay's body progressively weakening and his infections becoming more frequent and tougher to treat until his death in a Bucks County nursing home.
It's going to be a very difficult case to prove, since the original shooting occurred some 42 years ago. The DA will have to prove that Officer Barclay, after so many years, died as a direct result of the GSW's inflicted by Barnes.
Here's hoping that Barnes is convicted and rots in prison, where he belongs.
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