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David Barnes, a onetime homicide detective with the Phoenix Police Department who is now under criminal indictment on perjury charges, was fired this afternoon.
Sergeant Trent Crump, a spokesperson for the city agency, said Barnes (in the photo) learned of his termination from a supervisor during an in-person visit to his home.
“Mr. Barnes is no longer an employee of the Phoenix Police Department,” Crump says.
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Barnes had been on suspension–with pay–for almost exactly a year. (Yes, taxpayers, the guy collected an estimated $65,000 for sitting on his butt as investigations against him proceeded.)
The ex-cop also faces a misdemeanor charge for allegedly harassing two of his former colleagues, a supervisor and the supervisor’s wife (a homicide detective).
He has pleaded not guilty and has been released on his own recognizance since a state grand jury indicted him last January. Barnes is represented by veteran Phoenix criminal defense attorney Craig Mehrens.
He was indicted along with his formerly secret associate, anti-Phoenix police blogger Jeff Pataky, allegedly for lying under oath during a custody hearing at which Pataky was a party.
Our colleague Sarah Fenske wrote a cover story last June about the mess inside the Phoenix department’s homicide unit — a good deal of it proved to be fomented by Barnes.
Barnes was demoted from homicide to patrol in June 2008, and then was placed on administrative leave.
He was particularly critical of the Phoenix PD’s crime lab and tried to position himself as a “whistleblower.” But many at the department who know Barnes long have considered him a divisive blowhard with an oversized ego and a penchant for dishonesty.
