Lawyer change delays hearing for shooting suspect

The suspected shooter in an April 10 shooting at a home in Long Barn that left one man dead and another man seriously injured didn’t enter a plea Monday at his second appearance in Tuolumne County Superior Court due to a change in lawyers.

James West, 69, who lived at the home on the 26000 block of Long Barn Road where the shooting took place, wore red Tuolumne County Jail-issued clothes and walked with a cane in his right hand as he was escorted by Sheriff’s jail deputies into Judge Laura Krieg’s courtroom.

West is accused by the county District Attorney’s Office of first-degree murder in the death of 62-year-old Joseph Barbalinardo Jr. and first-degree attempted murder in the shooting of James Nash, who court records stated is 39.

Public Defender Scott Gross was appointed by Judge David Beyersdorf at a previous hearing on April 15 to represent West, who said his only income was from Social Security.

Gross filed a notice with the court Thursday declaring that he was handing off the case to an attorney in the county Conflict Counsel’s Office “for purposes of balancing workload, so office attorneys can provide effective assistance of counsel equally.”

West is now being represented by co-chief Conflict Counsel Erik Beauchamp, who asked Krieg for additional time because he just got the case Thursday afternoon and spoke with his new client for the first time Monday.

Beauchamp requested that the hearing for West to enter a plea be delayed by three weeks, which Krieg granted without objection from county District Attorney Cassandra Jenecke.

Krieg set the next date for West to enter a plea at 1:30 p.m. May 13.

West has remained in custody at the county jail without bail since his arrest the night of the shooting. He was arrested at the scene after Sheriff’s deputies arrived and ordered everyone out of the home, where inside

they found Barbalinardo shot dead and Nash suffering from gunshot wounds.

The home had a sign hanging out front that said “The Barbalinardo’s.”

At West’s first court appearance on April 15, it was revealed that Nash lived at the residence with West as prosecutors argued for Beyersdorf to issue an order barring West from having any contact with Nash, which was ultimately granted.

West asked Beyersdorf at the April 15 hearing about his belongings that were still at the residence and how he could “be sure that nothing will be screwed with.”

As deputies were escorting West out of the courtroom Monday, a man who was wearing a clerical collar stood up and appeared to voice his support to West.

The man declined to give his name outside of the courtroom, but said, “All I can say is that I hope the lord gives Mr. West mercy.”