PORT ANGELES — Charges were refiled last week against accused rapist Corean O. Barnes after the Division 2 state Court of Appeals reversed his 2009 convictions for sexual assault and unlawful imprisonment.
Barnes, 28, will be re-arraigned in a 1:30 p.m. March 4 Clallam County Superior Court hearing on two charges of second-degree rape and one charge of unlawful imprisonment, county Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly said Monday.
Barnes will be assigned an attorney if he cannot afford one and a trial date will be set, Kelly said.
Kelly refiled the charges Thursday.
“Much of the evidence that went into the first trial will go in at the second trial,” Kelly said.
Barnes, a former Sequim nursing assistant, is accused of assaulting his girlfriend — at the time she was 30, he was 25, Barnes said — while the two allegedly were breaking up on Aug. 15, 2008.
She taped the entire encounter of about four hours.
The appeals court said there was enough evidence to convict Barnes, formerly of Sequim, but said Superior Court Judge Ken Williams should not have allowed as evidence those parts of the recording that did not include threats.
The state Privacy Act requires the consent of all parties to record conversation except in cases in which threats are made.
The woman made the tape without Barnes’ consent.
In the 2009 trial, he was convicted and sentenced to 119 months — just under 10 years — to life in prison.
Barnes is “ecstatic” about the appeals court ruling, he said in a phone interview from Coyote Ridge Corrections Center, a medium security prison in Connell.
Williams, who will preside over the new trial, must review the recording again and rule on what from it will be admissible as evidence, Kelly and Barnes’ appellate court attorney, Jodi Backlund, said last week.
Kelly said the case will boil down to Barnes’ word against his former girlfriend’s — and her recording.
“The jury had the opportunity to evaluate [the recording] and will have the opportunity to evaluate some of it again,” Kelly said.
The tape includes the assaults, which were not reported until several days later, according to the appeals court ruling.
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
