PORT ANGELES -Bernard Gilbert “Pete” Barnes is scheduled to be tried on charges of cocaine dealing and leading organized crime on Oct. 8.
At a pre-trial hearing Friday, Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deborah Kelly and Barnes’ attorney, Karen Unger, said there was no reason why the trial in Clallam County Superior Court cannot begin as scheduled.
Barnes’ case is a combination of two sets of charges of cocaine dealing and leading organized crime, one filed in November of 2003 and another in December of 2004.
Barnes’ trail date on the 2003 charges was reset nine times, then two more times once the 2003 and 2004 cases were joined.
Reasons for the trail resets have ranged from OPNET investigation files being unavailable to attorneys to a staff shortage in the prosecutor’s office as well as numerous pre-trial issues regarding evidence.
Friday, Unger said in court via telephone that she had yet to interview some of the prosecution’s witnesses, but that, barring problems arranging those interviews, she was ready.
“We are on track,” Kelly said in court.
