Sex offender to be resentenced
WAYNESBURG – The sentence of a Carmichaels man convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage girl was overturned by the state Superior Court this week.
Leeland Ray Barnhart Jr., 38, was sentenced to 10½ to 20½ years in prison by now-retired Greene County Judge William Nalitz in October 2012. At the time, this was the mandatory sentence for the offenses Barnhart committed. However, in December mandatory minimum sentences for sexual offenses against children were deemed to be unconstitutional by the state Superior Court after it ruled on an appeal of a Lancaster County man.
The ruling now gives discretion to the sentencing judge. Barnhart could now receive the same sentence, a lesser sentence or even a potentially longer one.
A date for Barnhart’s resentencing has not yet been scheduled. Greene County President Judge Farley Toothman will impose the new sentence because Nalitz retired.
Barnhart is currently being held at the State Correctional Institution – Somerset.
After a five-day trial in May 2012, Barnhart was found guilty of lying to Cumberland Township police officers to conceal the whereabouts of a 15-year-old girl. The girl testified she lied to Barnhart, claiming she was 17. She said he became aware of her true age after the two had consensual sex, and they continued to carry on a relationship.
The girl eventually ran away from home, staying in a Uniontown hotel with Barnhart for a week before moving with him to his trailer. Barnhart told police he lied about knowing where the teen was to protect her, fearing for her safety if she was returned to her family.
A jury found Barnhart guilty of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of a minor, indecent assault, concealing the whereabouts of a minor, interfering with the custody of a minor, corruption of the morals of a minor, luring a minor into his home without the permission of her parents and obstructing the administration of law or government.