Scott Barnett’s trial for two counts of murder more than a decade ago was postponed for a mental competency review.
In 2025, Barnett, 45, walked into a police station and allegedly confessed his involvement in the fatal stabbing of 41-year-old Terrill Lehman and 46-year-old Charles Webster in 2014. Barnett appeared before Judge Mellisa M. Phinn on August 21, 2026 to set a new trial date.
The bodies of Lehman and Webster have yet to be found, but Barnett is charged with two counts of murder in the first degree. The prosecutor says they are ready to go to trial whenever the defense is ready. Because the defendant allegedly confessed of his own will the prosecution believes they have a strong argument.
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.
Barnett told police that Lehman and Webster would extort money and drugs from him and his child’s mother in exchange for their tenancy.
They allegedly 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.
Barnett’s previous attorney Public Defender Janine Meckler, retired, and he is now represented by Arthur Baker also of the PDS. The original trial start was meant to be by May 5, 2025, but it was waived multiple times due to Meckler’s request to determine Barnett’s mental competence to stand trial–meaning he must understand the charges against and be able to help his lawyer.
The defense has now brought its own expert witness into the case.
Baker stated he has sent the behavioral analyst approximately 7,000 pages of Barnett’s medical records and a few hours of discovery for review. Baker then requested a November 30 scheduling conference, as his expert witness will be ready to testify by then.
Judge Phinn scheduled the calendar hearing on November 30, 2026 with the agreement of both parties.
