U.S. Attorney Sheldon J. Sperling announced that Kenneth Eugene Barrett, 45, of Sallisaw was sentenced to death in federal court in Muskogee for intentionally killing a state law enforcement officer engaged in the performance of his duty.
"The defendant was also sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of release for both using or carrying a firearm during and in relationship to a drug trafficking crime with death resulting and using or carrying a firearm during and in relationship to a federal crime of violence, with death resulting," Sperling said.
The formal sentencing followed the jury's recommendations after finding Barrett guilty of three federal charges on Nov. 4.
Barrett shot and killed OHP Trooper David "Rocky" Eales and wounded another trooper during a drug raid at Barrett's rural Sequoyah County home in 1999. The troopers were shot while trying to serve a night time, no-knock drug search warrant at Barrett's home northwest of Sallisaw.
Barrett's federal trial was his third. His first state trial in Sequoyah County ended with a deadlocked jury, while his second trial ended in a manslaughter conviction. The second jury gave Barrett a combined 30-year prison sentence for the death of Eales and the wounding of another trooper.
"I would much prefer that today be Sept. 23, 1999, and that we have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. At this point, though, we respectfully submit that the federal jury got it right," Sperling said. "This jury heard all the relevant facts and saw to the core of the case - the defendant murdered one law enforcement officer and tried to murder another."
The prosecution maintained throughout the trial that Barrett knew he was shooting at approaching law enforcement officers and alleged that Barrett repeatedly knew he was wanted for arrest because he had missed a court date.
Defense attorneys argued that Barrett was only defending himself and his family when he fired his rifle at an unmarked vehicle driving toward his home.
