Noorvik man sentenced for assault

May 27, 1993

By Michael Gerhardt
Arctic Sounder

NOORVIK — Ronald K. Barr Jr. was sentenced here last Friday to 3 1/2 years in prison for assaulting a woman by beating her with a rifle butt.

Barr, a 33-year-old Noorvik man who functioned as a tribal doctor, was indicted last November on four felony counts of assault and sexual abuse.

He pleaded no contest last month to one of the charges of second-degree assault, and the state dropped the remaining charges and agreed to seek 3 1/2 years of prison time.

Superior Court Judge Richard Erlich accepted the agreement when he sentenced Barr to seven years in prison with 3 1/2 suspended.

The time to be served by Barr includes a nine-month sentence that was suspended early last year in another assault case against Barr.

"Part of the reason we're here (in Noorvik) is that your community has said they care very much for you," Erlich told Barr.

It would be a breach of faith to have held the sentencing in Kotzebue, away from Barr's community, he said, because there is a need to explain what is going on.

Erlich said Noorvik residents probably will not like hearing the explanation but that they need to hear it.

"I do respect what the people in the community have been telling me," he said. "But I've made my own independent judgment."

"I have to be concerned about the danger you pose to folks," Erlich told Barr. "The last time you were before me, if I had given you the nine months to serve, you probably would have been in jail when the current crime was committed,"

Barr was arrested in October on charges he sexually abused a 14-year-old girl and assaulted a woman by sticking a rifle in her mouth and threatening to kill her. He was charged with one count of third-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault and one count of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor.

District Attorney Max Garner said the state agreed to drop the three charges in exchange for Barr's no contest plea for the remaining charge because of health problems with the witnesses in the case.

Barr was sentenced at the community building in front of about 20 community members, mostly friends and relatives. Erlich brought the sentencing to Noorvik to explain the proceeding and to allow for comments from the community on the case.

Several times during the 2 1/2 hour proceeding, supporters of Barr either testified or interrupted court action to ask questions and to make comments.

Erlich explained his actions to family members, who at times seemed not to understand and instead repeatedly told Erlich that Barr was a good man and was needed in the community.

Several people told Erlich they wanted Barr back in the community.

"We sure miss him as a neighbor," said Francis Ballot, who testified at one point that she remembered Barr getting his G.E.D. degree from the school in Noorvik.

"I really think we need him here in our community as a tribal doctor," said Randy Mulluk, a friend and neighbor of Barr's who said he served with Barr in the National Guard.

Barr is a lifelong Noorvik resident and part of a large family in the village.

He has apprenticed under his mother, Evelyn Barr, a respected regional tribal doctor, and trained with the Maniilaq Association Tribal Doctor program.

"We need an Eskimo doctor in this village. We need Ronald Barr Jr. back home," said Barr's aunt, Mary Lou Coffin.

"I know people in this community like Mr. Barr," said Erlich following the comments. "That's not the issue — people have the right to be safe."

Even though there are a lot of people here today with good things to say about Barr, Garner later said, there must also be consideration for his victims.

Alaska State Trooper Karl J. Erickson, who investigated the case, said Barr put a Remington 270 Windsor rifle in a woman's mouth at his Noorvik home on Oct. 29.

Barr told the woman to "say your last prayers," cursed the woman and "repeatedly called her by the name of his estranged wife," Erickson wrote in the Nov. 6 complaint.

The woman knocked the rifle away when Barr pulled it out of her mouth a little, but Barr then allegedly grabbed her hair and bit her nose, Erickson said.

"The defendant released her nose and hit her with his fists and bit her nose again, at which time she punched him and that allowed her to run out of the house," Erickson said in the complaint.

Barr was sentenced for the physical injury caused when Barr hit the woman with the butt of the rifle.

On the same day, the 14-year-old was in Barr's home and after drinking alcohol, fell asleep in a bedroom, the complaint said.

She woke up to find Barr performing sexual intercourse on her, fell asleep again still intoxicated and said that when she awoke Barr was asleep next to her with his pants down, the complaint said.

Although all but one of the charges against Barr were dropped, Erlich was allowed to consider Barr's previous record when structuring his sentence.

Barr has a string of felony charges against him dating back more than a decade.

Eight assault and sexual-assault cases involving several victims have been brought against Barr since 1981.

He has been convicted in two fourth-degree assault cases and in one where he was charged with furnishing alcohol to a minor.

Erlich said that Barr is not a bad person but someone who has a problem with alcohol.

In a two-page prepared statement, Barr thanked people for their kind remarks and comments and told the court that during his recent stay in jail he had found religion.

"The Lord has helped me to open my eyes and to see what alcohol and marijuana have done to me," he said. Because of his problems with alcohol, Barr said he had lost his wife, good paying jobs and a chance to succeed in college.

"I really believe that because of being arrested and having to spend time in jail that God has answered my prayers," he said.

Erlich also ordered Barr to participate in substance abuse programs while incarcerated and set a 5-year probationary period after his release.

He was handcuffed to be taken to the Anvil Mountain Correctional Center in Nome, where he will serve his sentence.

Barr's lawyer, Allan R. Thielen, said he had not yet discussed the possibility of appealing the case with Barr.