A 22-year-old Batavia man who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit murder charge well as other felonies will spend from two to six years in state prison, Judge Robert C. Noonan ruled today
Justin Z. Barker, of North Lyon Street, previously admitted to criminal possession of a controlled substance, 5th, and burglary, 3rd, but entered what's known as an "Alford Plea" in the murder-for-hire case, which means he didn't admit to the actual crime, just that he would probably be convicted if the case went to trial.
The burglary charge stems from a 2009 break-in at the Beaver Brothers Restaurant at Darien Lake Theme Park in which Barker and an accomplice got away with more than $7,000 cash. Baker was the driver and got to keep half the cash, according to courtroom discussion today.
The drug charge stems from Barker's arrest June 2 after management at a hotel complained about unpaid hotel guests who wouldn't leave.
Barker's brother, 25-year-old Derrick, fled on foot and was captured in a field across the Thruway from the hotel.
Also arrested June 2 was Benjamin Santiago Jr., 22, of North Lyon Street, Batavia.
Santiago allegedly had 70 bags of heroin in his backpack. A quantity of cocaine was found in the room, too.
Barker's defense attorney, Jerry Ader, sought to make technical clarifications to the record in court. Ader maintained that Barker was in no way involved in the misuse of a credit card involving a person not, apparently, associated with the case, and that Barker did not possess heroin.
Noonan struck the name of the woman with the credit card from the report on Barker, but let the information on heroin stand.
Ader said that such clarifications are important when a prisoner comes up for parole.
The other clarification was the name in the report on the purported target of the murder conspiracy. A woman's name was taken out and Benjamin Santiago's name inserted.
Assistant District Attorney Will Zickl pushed for the maximum sentence available under the plea agreement -- two- to six-years in prison) because of the seriousness of the conspiracy charge and the multiple criminal accusations in Barker's file.
"The defendant has committed or participated in drug crimes, crimes of domestic violence, property crimes, crimes of personal dishonesty and of course, the conspiracy," Zickl said. "I submit the conspiracy was substantial and was frankly quite far along in the process at the time of his plea -- money had exchanged hands."
Ader argued that many of the alleged crimes mentioned by Zickl were not anything Barker admitted doing, and that's why he didn't plead guilty to the other charges.
Ader noted that Barker, who had no prior felony convictions, had been through a series of misfortunes, including the sudden death of a daughter that led Barker to get involved with drugs.
"All of this set him off in a direction that wasn't helping, not helping for the community and not helping for himself," Ader said.
When asked to speak, Barker said, "I regret my actions. I wasn't thinking clearly when I did what I did. I'm sorry for everything I did."
Noonan responded, "Not thinking clearly is a pretty good defense to a lot of things, but it's not a good defense to conspiracy to commit murder. It's absolutely baffling that there could be anything that could make you think your conduct in this case is anything you could lead you to say just, 'I'm sorry.' "
