Climber Charles Barrett Arrested for Yosemite Sexual Assaults

Eric Marx wrote:

Alan, I'm a detective here on Long Island

Eric, your initial take was pretty horrible but knowing what you do for a living makes me understand why you said what you said. You encounter the dregs of society on a daily basis, I can't imagine all the shit you have to go through for your 9-5.
I get the same way when I hear people dispensing medical advice when they have no business doing so.
I hope hearing from 1 of his victims gives us all pause & maybe try to empathize. The comment about "if you didn't show suggestive photos of yourself, maybe you wouldn't be in this situation" isn't helpful. 1 of his victims read your comment. Let that sink in.
The only person that bears responsibility for the violence/rape is the abuser/rapist. Full stop, end of discussion.
Let's not make this a liberal v conservative discussion. Culture wars already have enough soldiers. Can we PLEASE come together on this.

NotSayin Sparrow wrote:

Dear Climbing Community, I am writing to you to give you my perspective of this story, 

Wow, thank you for posting! I wish I could give you more than a “like”.  You have brought this saga into focus and made it real. Your courage will carry you through this, regardless of CB’s fate. 

NotSayin Sparrow wrote:

Dear Climbing Community, I am writing to you to give you my perspective of this story, as a victim of Charlie's crimes and as a Federally protected victim in this investigation. In this forum, I have yet to hear one of our voices, so I created a safe account to speak up. Danger and retribution is very real each time I speak out. First, I am not speaking for all victims, I am speaking for myself. Second, I would like to thank the author of this article for articulating the main problem with Charlie's case: how did this go on for so long? I would like to tell you how, and perhaps alleviate some guilt you might be having, or to comfort you if you are feeling sad and confused about this situation. Are you asking yourself: How could I have been friends with someone like this? How did I not know? You aren't alone. Charlie is exceptionally charismatic, powerful, and endearing. He is funny, talented, and strong. He's a great guy-- until he isn't. Then, unfortunately the nightmare begins. His victims have been living this nightmare for a long time, all while watching him glitter and thrive in the community. My heart goes out to the other victims, particularly to Bonnie Hedlund and Lonnie Kauk, whom he has been torturing relentlessly for at least a decade. I'm sorry.

Charlie has magnificent taste in friends and in women. I know personally many women he has dated and they are incredible people, beautiful and talented. I am a doctor (not explaining what type for safety or IDing purposes), for example and probably not the first doctor, or highly educated woman to date him. How could super educated, accomplished, awesome women fall for a high school drop-out felon? The same reason Alex Honnold, Michael Pang, Jackie Hueftle, and many other accomplished climbers and community members were/are under his spell. He is super cool, handsome (when he takes care of himself), and mesmerizing. A big part of me worries that he will use this charisma to charm and seduce the jurors in his trial, similar to how Jon Krakauer explains that Dan Lafferty seduced a juror with flirtatious gestures to avoid the death penalty during the trial of murdering Brenda Lafferty and her baby in his book "Under the Banner of Heaven." Charlie has that type of sway, and if you have warm, kind thoughts for him even after this Outside article was published, he has this sway on you too. Yes, you. 

Do not blame yourself. Charlie has schemed his entire life to work people over and work the system over, to manipulate people. He is PRO. If you are his friend, and you want to write a character reference for him to the judge (which is what people in Mammoth are rallying to do even as you read this), that is exactly what he has worked so hard to get you to do. However, before writing that letter about what a great guy he is, maybe consider what it would be like to sleep with him, to have a fun relationship and boulder together or climb in the desert and watch him annihilate 5.13 trad. Mesmerizing, right? Then consider him punching you in the stomach because you said or did something "wrong." Then consider his hands around your neck, unprovoked, and then losing consciousness. Then consider perhaps how close you were to losing your life, on "accident" because his eyes glazed over and he didn't know when to stop. This is the character reference angle you don't have if you are "just friends" and thank goodness you don't. Because it is horrific. Maybe put that pen down, stop writing that letter, and imagine what that could feel like. Then maybe write "I'm sorry" to his victims instead.

Unfortunately, this trial, either convicted or not, will not be the end of his reign of terror. He uses many people to create a web of lies and support for his innocence. His crew blackmails witnesses online, and publicly shames them (Stephanie Forte is a good example). He manipulates his friends and family (his dad) into calling and intimidating witnesses. Behind bars, his campaign of proving himself innocent will continue. He will continue to manipulate people into befriending him, dazzling them with his funny jokes and convincing them to be his arm to gut punch his victims from behind bars. If exonerated, he will stalk the victims and actively try to ruin their lives himself; after all, someone will have to pay for him being in prison without bail for over a year. This trial may serve justice, but does not end the nightmare. 

I want to thank Officer McGee for risking everything, including her and her family's well being to investigate Charlie. He has been exceptionally cruel to her and her loved ones in this process. She is very brave for taking him on and should be honored for her service to the community. I want to thank my friends for supporting me. I also want to thank my friends who once supported Charlie, saw the light, and apologized to me or the other victims. I want to apologize to and thank the people who warned me not to date Charlie, who I brushed off, because, ya know, he is so fun! I need forgiveness for this as well. I hope this trial brings healing to the community as a whole, and also opens our eyes to dangerous people sooner. I hope this article takes the wool from peoples eyes, allowing them to stop defending a monster, forgiving themselves for having done so, and moving forward with healing in the community. 

I've been on Mountain Project since 2006 and am a guidebook author, albeit for mountain hiking in Colorado, not climbing. I've lurked for almost 20 years on these forums and rarely post, but I want to commend you on this incredibly articulate, thoughtful, and profound comment. Your brave and clear-headed appraisal of Charlie reminds us that as emotional creatures, we so often see what we want to see. Until we see something else.

You said it perfectly: "He is PRO". In this forum, that powerful charismatic spell is evident, even with people who would otherwise be more reasonable in their judgment. The Outside article is damning and accurate. And these are only the stories we know. Thank you for posting.

NotSayin Sparrow wrote:

Dear Climbing Community, I am writing to you to give you my perspective of this story, as a victim of Charlie's crimes and as a Federally protected victim in this investigation. In this forum, I have yet to hear one of our voices, so I created a safe account to speak up. Danger and retribution is very real each time I speak out. First, I am not speaking for all victims, I am speaking for myself. Second, I would like to thank the author of this article for articulating the main problem with Charlie's case: how did this go on for so long? I would like to tell you how, and perhaps alleviate some guilt you might be having, or to comfort you if you are feeling sad and confused about this situation. Are you asking yourself: How could I have been friends with someone like this? How did I not know? You aren't alone. Charlie is exceptionally charismatic, powerful, and endearing. He is funny, talented, and strong. He's a great guy-- until he isn't. Then, unfortunately the nightmare begins. His victims have been living this nightmare for a long time, all while watching him glitter and thrive in the community. My heart goes out to the other victims, particularly to Bonnie Hedlund and Lonnie Kauk, whom he has been torturing relentlessly for at least a decade. I'm sorry.

Charlie has magnificent taste in friends and in women. I know personally many women he has dated and they are incredible people, beautiful and talented. I am a doctor (not explaining what type for safety or IDing purposes), for example and probably not the first doctor, or highly educated woman to date him. How could super educated, accomplished, awesome women fall for a high school drop-out felon? The same reason Alex Honnold, Michael Pang, Jackie Hueftle, and many other accomplished climbers and community members were/are under his spell. He is super cool, handsome (when he takes care of himself), and mesmerizing. A big part of me worries that he will use this charisma to charm and seduce the jurors in his trial, similar to how Jon Krakauer explains that Dan Lafferty seduced a juror with flirtatious gestures to avoid the death penalty during the trial of murdering Brenda Lafferty and her baby in his book "Under the Banner of Heaven." Charlie has that type of sway, and if you have warm, kind thoughts for him even after this Outside article was published, he has this sway on you too. Yes, you. 

Do not blame yourself. Charlie has schemed his entire life to work people over and work the system over, to manipulate people. He is PRO. If you are his friend, and you want to write a character reference for him to the judge (which is what people in Mammoth are rallying to do even as you read this), that is exactly what he has worked so hard to get you to do. However, before writing that letter about what a great guy he is, maybe consider what it would be like to sleep with him, to have a fun relationship and boulder together or climb in the desert and watch him annihilate 5.13 trad. Mesmerizing, right? Then consider him punching you in the stomach because you said or did something "wrong." Then consider his hands around your neck, unprovoked, and then losing consciousness. Then consider perhaps how close you were to losing your life, on "accident" because his eyes glazed over and he didn't know when to stop. This is the character reference angle you don't have if you are "just friends" and thank goodness you don't. Because it is horrific. Maybe put that pen down, stop writing that letter, and imagine what that could feel like. Then maybe write "I'm sorry" to his victims instead.

Unfortunately, this trial, either convicted or not, will not be the end of his reign of terror. He uses many people to create a web of lies and support for his innocence. His crew blackmails witnesses online, and publicly shames them (Stephanie Forte is a good example). He manipulates his friends and family (his dad) into calling and intimidating witnesses. Behind bars, his campaign of proving himself innocent will continue. He will continue to manipulate people into befriending him, dazzling them with his funny jokes and convincing them to be his arm to gut punch his victims from behind bars. If exonerated, he will stalk the victims and actively try to ruin their lives himself; after all, someone will have to pay for him being in prison without bail for over a year. This trial may serve justice, but does not end the nightmare. 

I want to thank Officer McGee for risking everything, including her and her family's well being to investigate Charlie. He has been exceptionally cruel to her and her loved ones in this process. She is very brave for taking him on and should be honored for her service to the community. I want to thank my friends for supporting me. I also want to thank my friends who once supported Charlie, saw the light, and apologized to me or the other victims. I want to apologize to and thank the people who warned me not to date Charlie, who I brushed off, because, ya know, he is so fun! I need forgiveness for this as well. I hope this trial brings healing to the community as a whole, and also opens our eyes to dangerous people sooner. I hope this article takes the wool from peoples eyes, allowing them to stop defending a monster, forgiving themselves for having done so, and moving forward with healing in the community. 

Thank you for coming on here and letting us hear your side of the story. I will just say that I believe you, and I hope that you are able to feel safe when you go climbing. I am appalled at how much support he has received from the climbing community to enable his behavior. We as a community can and should do better.

3)To protect yourself into the future, don't show naked photos of yourself to random men who you just met and know nothing about. One step further, don't have sex with anybody unless you're going to marry them and have children with them. Certainly don't become a prostitute.

IF we did all of those things, the rates of sexual assault would drop, but obviously never go away, since humans are broken and always will be.

Photos and pre-marital sex happen all the time in modern times, yet the vast vast majority of these are consensual.

Your thinking is a slippery slope to hijab and Shuria law. 

This is Murica bro, people do and wear what they want to.

Stop. Blaming. The. Victim..

Artem Vee wrote:

This whole mess is a gigantic reminder why I don’t fratenize with the cults of personality that strong athletes will sometimes form via their admirers - specifically because a ton of vile behavior habitually gets swept under the rug. I’ve seen it happen too many times to count, and it’s made me jaded to the point where I just avoid those people once I get any sense of this kind of juvenile shit. In most cases nothing happens to the perpetrators, it’s just standard foul behavior - but in this case it obviously boiled over until it became impossible to ignore (though obviously people STILL are trying their hardest to keep pretending that everything is all cool, because this dude is “cool”).

Anyway - big reminder that if this dude was an unremarkable climber without a personality - he would have been stopped basically immediately. 

But, since we’re suckers for strength, talent, status, and charisma - he got away with it for as long as he did. Here’s a reminder to stay cynical and to not afford any special to privileges to people just because they can hold onto slightly tinier holds…

Predators purposefully seek out social positions/capital where they are afforded the benefit of the doubt, blind eyes to their ugly side, and default trust/respect from the community. Always remember that. (Obviously not everybody in these positions is a predator, it’s just that predators are specifically attracted to these positions because it enables them to operate as they please - so don’t act surprised when the predator turns out to be a prominent member of X or Y community)

30 pages in, and there it the most relevant bit of advice 

Recent posts are tone deaf, portraying lifestyle changes and belied systems as “obvious” fixes to the rolling tragedies that people like CB instigate. They are an oversimplification - out of many other possible oversimplified solutions - that misses the mark for so many of us today.

In these latest posts, seeing a man change someone else’s thoughts to his liking appears, well, forceful and so cringe worthy especially in light of the topic of this thread. Worse than tone deaf.

I realize there is absolutely no point in engaging in this, but I cannot sit and read what you are saying Eric without some kind of response. Your black and white statements reflect a narrow and simplistic worldview that places the blame squarely on the victims of sexual assault and violence.

I understand there are people who hold these opinions. What terrifies me is that you are a detective and in the position of investigating these crimes. You state you have empathy, but you certainly are not demonstrating that here. We all have biases, explicit and implicit, and these impact our actions whether we admit it or not. It’s hard to imagine (from reading what you’ve written) that you would give the same care and diligence in the investigation of crimes committed against a woman who was a sex worker compared to a woman who was not. The thinly veiled implication is the sex worker somehow deserved it. No woman deserves this.

It makes me sick that you took the victim’s words of self-guilt/blame as somehow validating what you’ve written.

Your statement that the Long Island killer didn’t kill his wife, but only sex workers is also sickening and does nothing to support your assertions. It dehumanizes these women.

I sincerely hope you do not carry these attitudes into your work. Victims blame themselves enough and do not need law enforcement (or others) also telling them it’s their fault. The fault rests squarely on the monster who preyed on them. 

What’s the best Bishop bouldering guidebook not by Barrett? 

Looks like MP admins locked this thread after deleting Eric's standard-violating comments. I agree with that and I'm sad that we can't just have a conversation about this particular case and trial without someone always wanting to turn it into a megaphone for their retrograde ways of thinking about women.

Thanks again to the brave person who posted her personal experience. I'll post here again if there's new coverage of the trial that seems relevant. 

Word is that jury selection will be completed today and opening statements tomorrow. Very curious to hear what the defense's theory of the case is. 

A couple forum members have messaged me asking how to access case documents directly. The search engine for Federal Courts is called PACER. The link to set up an account is HERE. They charge a per page amount for documents but then waive any bill under $40 per quarter. I've never actually received a bill.

Case number is 1:22-cr-00213 to search by case number.

Name of defendant if you do a party search is Charles Barrett. There's another Charles Richard Barrett with a criminal trial for child porn who is not the one you are looking for.

Court where the case is docketed is California Eastern District Court (note that it's FEDERAL court but in the California Eastern District.)

Easiest way to search documents is to find the right case and then do a document history search with newest first.

I wish it were easier, but that's about as simple as I can describe it. 

A MP user just shared that Court Listener has many of the case documents online for free and more simple to search.

Try this link

I got a debrief today from someone who attended the closing arguments and other parts of the trial. A couple things I found interesting in the details shared by the person who attended. Bear in mind that I'm just reporting what was reported to me, so even though everyone is being as accurate as they can be, there may be errors in the way things were remembered or re-told.

First, the trial was initially slated to take three weeks. It wrapped in one, including jury selection.

It appears many of the witnesses listed in advance as testifying on Barrett's behalf didn't ever appear. It's unclear if that's because they were listed without the defense actually securing their commitment to testify, or if something changed their minds, or if the defense attorneys simply changed their strategy.

The victim of the crimes charged in this indictment, KG, testified with great credibility and effectively.

Several other prior victims of Barrett also appeared and testified to their experiences, corroborating the similarities between what happened to them with CB and the crimes charged in this trial.

At closing arguments the Defense attorneys apparently conceded that their client may, in fact, have sexually assaulted other women (seemingly a reference to the other victims testifying) but that the only question in front of the jury is did CB assault the charged victim. And then they argued that hadn't been proved, citing evidence like (their idea, not mine) that while she did cry for help when being assaulted in the communal showers at camp, she didn't cry for help LOUD ENOUGH.

It doesn't sound like things went super well for the defendant. Will be very interesting to see how long the jury deliberates and what verdicts they return with.

 

A Federal Jury of 12 people just found Charlie Barrett GUILTY of all three counts against him. 

I'm going to go out on a limb and leave this thread unlocked with the hopes that we can now have a reasonable and civil discussion of the case without it devolving into victim blaming or a platform for ad hominum attacks on each other. I'm sure the MP admins will close it down again if that happens. 

I'm really proud of the victims who were so brave in testifying despite threats and many other good reasons they could have decided not to. I hope this verdict brings them some closure.

Thank you for the updates!! Very happy to hear this verdict.