Charles Barfield, found insane in Durham county superior court late Friday afternoon and ordered committed to the insane department of the state penitentiary by Judge N.A. Sinclair, will be carried to Raleigh by Durham county officers either on Monday or Tuesday, Sheriff John Harward announced late Saturday. Besides the written order of the court, county officials will also carry to the prison the official report of evidence brought out in Friday’s hearing. No definite period of commitment was given Barfield, and if release is given him any time in the future it will come, as provided by law, through action on the part of the officials of the insane department of the penitentiary, the judgment states.
The question of Barfield’s insanity though technically affirmed by the jury, was not actually considered by a Durham county jury, for Solicitor L.P. McLendon, at 5 o’clock Friday afternoon, brought the court action to an abrupt close, following an hour of evidence of experts, medical and psychological, by announcing that the state would not resist a verdict on the preliminary issue of insanity. The case came into superior court after the jury found a true bill against Barfield. It was announced through counsel that the defendant was unable to make defense or enter a plea of guilt or innocence, on account of his mental state, to two charges preferred against him, carnal knowledge of a female under 16 years of age, and assault with intent to commit criminal assault upon 12-year-old Maggie Weeks, colored, of the Bragtown section.
The state offered no evidence, and the witnesses called by the defense were in large part local physicians who had examined Barfield. Drs. J.M. Manning, H.M. Brinkley, N.D. Bitting of Durham, Dr. Harry W. Craine of the University psychology department, E.I. Bugg, Frank Burfield, and Mr. Hursey were witnesses who took the stand. All stated that, in their opinion, Barfield was insane.
From page 2 of the Durham Morning Herald, Sunday, May 25, 1924
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