Barnes pleads innocent in double murder charge

By Linda Cicoira

 An Exmore man, who is accused of murdering his mother and a local fire medic at a July party and then shooting at his sister and causing her to run for her life, entered pleas of not guilty Thursday in Accomack Circuit Court to a dozen charges surrounding the case.

Thirty-four-year-old Frederic (Ricky) Marvin Barnes Jr. requested a trial by jury during the proceeding. Judge W. Revell Lewis III set the case for June 22, 23, and 24, 2022.

In a muffled voice that came from behind a face mask, Barnes, who according to court records, is six foot two inches tall and weighs 330 pounds, adorned a white jail jumpsuit and entered a plea after each charge was read aloud by the clerk.

Those included indictments for premeditated murder of 75-year-old Brenda Iline Barnes, with whom he lived; premeditated murder of 53-year-old Dean Herbert Reid, of Parksley, who was a member of Melfa Fire Company; attempted murder of Christina Green, his sister, who lived at the Deep Creek Road residence where the shootings occurred; second-degree murder of his mother, second-degree murder of Reid, attempted second-degree murder of Green, use of a firearm in those felonies, brandishing a firearm, recklessly handling a firearm and carrying a concealed firearm while under the influence of alcohol.

In an interview with Shore Daily News, Green said her brother had been drinking and had gotten “belligerent” at a surprise birthday party for her nephew. At one point, she said, the defendant started to fight with her nephew. Reid tried to get him to stop and Barnes shoved Reid.

Green said, her brother “pulled out a gun and shot him (Reid) in the chest. Dean spun around and hit the ground. They were so close to each other. Dean fell onto the sidewalk. And Ricky shot him two more times in the back,” Green added.

“Then he turned to his mother. ‘I’m tired of taking care of you,’” Green said she heard her brother say before shooting her stepmother “twice in the head.”

“I was still on the phone with 9-1-1 and he turned the gun on me,” Green continued. “He shot at me while I was running down the driveway and missed. He ran out of ammo as I was running into my neighbor’s yard. I looked back. He was standing between his car and Dean’s car and reloaded the gun.

Barnes is being held in jail without bond. Defense Attorney Brandon Wilder will have the opportunity to cross examine the prosecution’s witnesses and present Barnes’ side of the story at the trial.

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