CLIVE McFARLANE
Reprinted with Permission, Telegram & Gazette
WORCESTER -- About an hour after being released on bail from Framingham State Prison yesterday, Julie Ann Barnes, one of two people charged in the Dec. 3 warehouse fire that killed six Worcester firefighters, returned to the city to sign her probation papers.
Wearing a sweat suit and covering her face with a piece of orange construction paper, Ms. Barnes made no public comment.
Her lawyers, Michael C. Wilcox and Louis P. Aloise, said she did not know she would be released until yesterday morning and was overwhelmed by the development.
They also said Ms. Barnes was devastated by what happened to the firefighters.
"She is saddened beyond belief about what happened to those firefighters," Mr. Aloise said. "She is heartbroken by this. She is devastated."
Ms. Barnes, 20, and Thomas S. Levesque, 37, were charged with six counts of involuntary manslaughter in the fire. The two, homeless at the time and staying in the vacant warehouse, allegedly started the deadly fire by accidentally knocking over a candle during an altercation.
They failed to report the fire after trying unsuccessfully to put it out, according to prosecutors.
Ms. Barnes' release from Framingham State, where she was being held on $75,000 bail, later reduced to $25,000, was partially secured by Timothy and Deborah King of Ellsworth, Maine, the adoptive parents of Ms. Barnes' 16-year-old sister, Jennifer.
Under the terms of the probation, Ms. Barnes is to live with the Kings while her case is pending.
She is also required to contact the Worcester Superior Court Probation Department three times a week, to remain alcohol and drug free, to submit to random urinalysis, and to avoid Mr. Levesque, who is being held on $250,000 bail.
Her lawyers are working on securing her visiting rights to her 1-month-old son, Joshua Barnes.
The Department of Social Services was awarded custody of the child and placed him in a foster home.
Yesterday, Ms. Barnes visited briefly with her mother, Evelyn Menard of Rutland, at the courthouse, before being driven to her lawyers' office at 19 Cedar St.
The office's conference room was the setting of a 3 p.m. press conference attended by the Kings and Ms. Barnes' lawyers.
The lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss the case against Ms. Barnes. They said it will likely be heard on Aug. 8, in Worcester Superior Court.
At that time, the judge, after listening to evidence in the case, will have the option of allowing the motion, denying it, or referring it to the Supreme Judicial Court, the lawyers said.
The Kings, meanwhile, quietly explained why they had fought so hard to have Ms. Barnes released and to bring her into their home.
"At first we thought it would be something anyone would do, so we are all in shock that most people wouldn't do this," Mrs. King said.
"But we have her biological sister, and we know what a wonderful person she is, and know that Julie is the same kind of person inside."
Mr. King, the town manager of Ellsworth, said the family raised the $25,000 bail through generous donations from the public, including "numerous $10 and $20, $50, $100" contributions from the Worcester area.
There were also some larger donations from the Worcester area, including one donation of several thousand dollars, he said.
The Kings said they know nothing about Ms. Barnes' mental and emotional state.
"She is going to a family she has not had a lot of interaction with," Mrs. King said. "Most of our interactions with her have been limited to jail visits."
But those visits, they said, included scenes of Ms. Barnes and her sister, "two people very much alike," sitting at a table giggling and teasing each other about their freckles and hair.
So while they discussed Ms. Barnes' "19 years of neglect and abuse," they felt in the end that she would not have a negative influence on her sister, the Kings said.
"She (Jennifer) told me, 'You are a good judge of character.' And my instinct tells me she (Julie) is sweet and innocent for someone who has been through so much," Mrs. King said.
Mrs. King, who operates a travel agency in Maine, said Ms. Barnes will work in the office with her. Ms. Barnes will begin by sending out thank-you letters to the hundreds of people who contributed to her release, Mrs. King said.
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