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Highlands Today

Jury selection scheduled in Barnett case

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By BRAD DICKERSON

Highlands Today

Published: November 18, 2009

BARTOW - Jury selection is scheduled to begin Nov. 30 in the case of a Highlands County inmate charged in connection with the death of Polk County Detention Sgt. Ronnie Brown.

Terrence Jerome Barnett, 28, is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer without violence. A Nov. 25 hearing is also scheduled prior to jury selection, according to information from the Polk County Clerk of Courts.

What might very well be part of the trial is an alleged pen-pal relationship between Barnett and a female detention deputy.

Barnett told detectives that he was upset with Deputy Maria Guzman for ignoring him, according to a Nov. 16 Lakeland Ledger report. He also said she had written personal letters to him in the past.

"I told her I'll make you love me and hate me at the same time if you ever cross me," the Ledger report quoted Barnett as saying.

Donna Wood, public information officer with the Polk County Sheriff's Office, would not confirm or deny Tuesday that an administrative investigation was being conducted into the allegations of letter writing.

On Aug. 30, Barnett, who was being held in Polk County for a Highlands County murder charge, reportedly became unruly and Brown was called into the cell. The prisoner is said to have shoved the deputy, who fell against the wall and then on the floor.

Brown underwent surgery at Winter Haven Hospital on Sept. 2 to fix a broken vertebrate he suffered in the scuffle. The sergeant, a nearly 20-year veteran of the Polk County Sheriff's Office, later died in his hospital bed on Sept. 8.

This is not Barnett's only pending court case where he has been charged with murder. He pleaded no contest on June 12 to second-degree murder for his role in the 2007 death of Highlands County resident Bryan "Red" Fanning. The agreement called for him to serve 30 years in prison.

Since then, Barnett filed a motion to withdraw from the plea by claiming inefficient counsel. That motion will be discussed at a Feb. 9 hearing before Polk County Judge J. Michael Hunter.

Highlands Today reporter Brad Dickerson can be reached at (863) 386-5838 or bdickerson@highlandstoday.com

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