Jerone Barrett Guilty of Second Degree Murder In Marcia Trimble Case

Jermone Barrett was found guilty of second degree murder this morning in the death of Marcia Trimble 34 years ago. He was sentenced to 44 years in prison. This may be surprising and disappointing to some who think he should have been found guilty of first degree murder. But it may be that it is a compromise sentence in the fact that the proof in this case was not iron clad and a little fuzzy. The case was determined under 1975 law. The jury also determined his sentence, instead of the judge, because that was also the law in 1975.

At the press conference immediately after the verdict was read, Tom Thurman, the prosecutor, said he was happy with the second degree verdict. He said the point is to make sure that Barrett was put away for life, and he will be, considering both this verdict and his first degree verdict from the Sarah Des Prez case. He did add that we will probably never know the answers to the unanswered questions--who were the two people in the nearby driveway that had been seen? Who was the other child that had been seen? Why was the body in the neighbhor's garage not discovered for 33 years?

Thurman also said they could not verify that Barrett had been working at the time at the Geddes Douglas nursery, which used to be located in the Trimble neighborhood. He did say that the nursery had employed people on parole before, so Barrett could have been one of those. But there is no way to establish that fact. People had wondered why Barrett might be in that neighborhood, and one theory had been that he had worked at the nursery.

Virginia Trimble at the press conference said she is content with what happened today. "We got the truth, at least part of the truth," she said. She mentioned that the presence of the investigators and the neighborhood support in the early days was of great comfort to her family. (She mentioned at the press conference that someone had complained that she had not written thank you notes to people who brought food to her house back in 1975. What kind of jackass would complain about that? OK, on a TV call-in show, it was that the comment made was not made in criticism of the Trimbles. That is good.) She said the hardest part during the trial was when she was handed the blouse that Marcia had worn the day she went missing, wrapped in plastic. She was visibly upset on the stand. "That is the first time I had seen that blouse in 34 years," she said. "She should have been standing there wearing it." She gave Capt. Mickey Miller of the police force a framed painting that Marcia had done in appreciation of his work and help on the case. She also said she would like to talk with Barrett to find out why he did the crime and to fill in the missipng pieces. Trimble married former Tennessean reporter Frank Ritter two years ago.

The question is, is this case really closed?