TEXARKANA, Texas–The wife of a man who was sentenced to multiple life sentences this month for the physical and sexual abuse of multiple young children has pleaded guilty to ten felonies and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp told TXK Today on Friday that the state and 202nd District Judge John Tidwell agreed to allow Brittany Michelle Barnes, 32, to plead guilty on Thursday to spare her children the trauma of reliving the abuse they suffered while living in nightmarish conditions in a New Boston, Texas, trailer home with her and Cody Blake Barnes.
Cody Barnes, 32, was convicted earlier this month of 33 felonies by a Bowie County jury The jury then sentenced Cody Barnes to eight life terms plus hundreds of additional years and imposed more than a quarter million dollars in fines at the end of a week-long trial. He is ineligible for parole.
“No child should experience the abhorrent abuse these children have endured,” Crisp said. Despite what they have been through, each of these child victims – ages 6, 7, 10 and 12 – demonstrated tremendous fortitude and resilience in testifying against their tormenter Cody Barnes, who threatened to kill them or their loved ones if they disclosed the abuse. The jury’s severe punishment verdict, perhaps the most severe in our county’s history, included multiple sentences of life without parole, was a just penalty for Cody Barnes, who likely inflicted a lifetime of suffering on these young victims.”
Brittany Barnes was well aware that her children were being sexually victimized by her husband, and that rather than take steps to protect them, told them to keep silent.
“After the children testified against Cody Barnes at his trial, the District Attorney’s office – acting upon the recommendations of mental health providers and with the blessing of the children’s caregivers – agreed to a plea bargain in Brittany Barnes’ cases so that the children will not have to testify at a second trial,” Crisp said. “By virtue of Brittany Barnes’ guilty plea and acceptance of responsibility for her criminal behavior, this incredibly difficult chapter in these children’s lives comes to a close.”
The couple not only allowed the large group of children to live in squalor in a New Boston, Texas, trailer that was infested with bed bugs and lice, but had sex in front of them. School officials and others who came into contact with the youth living with the Barneses repeatedly reported the physical neglect to Child Protective Services, according to the notice in Cody Barnes’ case, which mentions reports dating back to at least 2016.
Brittany Barnes was convicted in three separate cases of injury to a child causing serious mental impairment, one count of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury and six counts of abandoning or endangering a child.
The parental rights of the Barneses have been terminated through civil proceedings in Bowie County, court records show.
The Barneses are currently being held in the Bowie County jail awaiting transport to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
