Trial Set for Suspect in Decade-old Double Homicide

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Scott Barnett, 45, appeared before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa Copeland on June 27 to set a date for the trial of a double homicide from 2014.

Barnett is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and use of a dangerous weapon with intent to injure.

According to charging documents, the victims, Terril Lehman, 51, and Charles Webster, 46, were allowing Barnett and the mother of his child to live in the basement of their home on the 1600 block of Ralworth Road. Barnett told police that Lehman and Webster would extort money and drugs from him and his child’s mother in exchange for their tenancy.

On Jan. 12, over 10 years after the offense, Barnett walked into the Southeast District police station and confessed to both murders. He advised that one evening in November 2014, he and his child’s mother went upstairs to find Lehman and Webster seemingly high on pills, and began stabbing them.

They then used a shower curtain to drag their bodies to the basement, where they used saws to dismember the victims, and discarded the body parts in various area trash cans over the next week. The mother of Barnett’s child reportedly died in 2022 due to drowning and complications related to drug use.

Defense attorney Janine Meckler stated she is still waiting on results of an evaluation to assess Barnett’s background, mental state as well as other factors to identify possible mitigating circumstances in the case. She also said the trial might have to exceed Barnett’s speedy trial deadline of Sept. 17.

Judge Copeland conducted a verbal test to determine Barnett’s capacity to waive his right to a speedy trial, during which the defendant claimed he did not understand the charges against him and did not remember walking into the police station to confess to the 2014 murders.

Meckler expressed that, based on his answers, she is not confident that Barnett was competent to waive his rights.

Despite this concern, Judge Copeland found good cause to surpass his Hicks date.

The four-day trial is set to begin on Nov. 10.