Bulls Eye Sports Lounge: Pierce County man sentenced to 13 years has bond of $2 million
ADAM LYNN;
THE NEWS TRIBUNEPublished: 09/26/09 12:05 am
A Pierce County man convicted of murder can bail out of prison while his appeal is being considered, a Superior Court judge ruled Friday. Judge Brian Tollefson set the appeal bond for Barry Ford at $2 million. That means Ford, 51, can buy his release by putting up that much cash or paying a fee – usually 10 percent of the bail amount – to a bail bonds company. In Ford’s case that would be $200,000. Ford’s attorney, Jay Berneburg, said Friday that he wasn’t sure if Ford and his friends, who have pledged to help him, could raise that much money. Berneburg had asked Tollefson to set bail no higher that $500,000.
Deputy prosecutor Sunni Ko opposed Tollefson granting an appeals bond to Ford, who was convicted in June of second-degree murder for his role in the 2008 death of Dana Beaudine. Ko pointed out that Ford has filed a request that the public pay the costs of his appeal. Tollefson has yet to rule on that request. If he has money to post bail, he should have money to pay for his own appeals lawyer, Ko argued. At the very least, she said, the bail amount should be set at $2 million for Ford, who in July was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison.
“He has a huge incentive now to not return because he knows what he is looking at if the appeal fails,” Ko argued. “He knows that he’s looking at more than a decade in prison.”
The deputy prosecutor argued at trial that Ford acted as an accomplice in the murder of Beaudine, who was stabbed to death outside the Bulls Eye Sports Lounge in Spanaway in April 2008 after an argument with some of Ford’s friends. She said Ford prevented a friend of Beaudine’s from going to help the victim as he was being beaten and stabbed. Bernberg asked Tollefson earlier this summer to set aside the jury’s verdict against his client and dismiss the charge against him.
“The state presented no evidence that Mr. Ford knew of or participated in any plan to assault or stab Beaudine,” Berneburg wrote in court pleadings. “The evidence presented by the state established no more than Mr. Ford’s mere presence at the Bulls Eye.”
Tollefson refused to set aside the verdict, setting the stage for Ford’s appeal.
Three other men also were convicted in Beaudine’s death: Mike McCreven, Terry Nolan and Carl Smith. McCreven was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison, Nolan more than 16 years. Smith awaits sentencing.
