Problem arises over new 'Barefoot Bandit' charge
SEATTLE (AP) - There's a potential problem with one of two new charges filed against "Barefoot Bandit" Colton Harris-Moore: He already pleaded guilty to it.
The youthful thief who gained international notoriety acknowledged dozens of crimes and was sentenced to seven years in prison as part of a 2011 plea deal resolving charges against him in three Washington counties.
Among those crimes was first-degree theft for stealing a Cirrus airplane from Anacortes in Skagit County in February 2010 and flying it to Orcas Island in San Juan County.
Earlier this month, Skagit County Prosecutor Rich Weyrich, who refused to take part in the plea deal, charged Harris-Moore with second-degree burglary for breaking into Anacortes Airport, and first-degree theft for taking the plane.
Weyrich said he didn't join the plea deal because he wanted Harris-Moore to answer for the Skagit County crimes in a local courtroom. Weyrich did not immediately return a call or an email on Monday seeking comment.
Charging Harris-Moore with theft of the plane - a crime for which he's already serving prison time - would appear to violate his constitutional right against being prosecuted twice for the same crime.
However, Skagit County could still be able to pursue the burglary charge.
Harris-Moore's lawyer, John Henry Browne, said last week it was "juvenile" for Weyrich to pursue further charges against his client, and the realization that Harris-Moore had already pleaded guilty to one of the latest charges made it "even more silly."
"Obviously Mr. Weyrich doesn't know the background of this case," Browne said. "Maybe this will make him change his mind."
San Juan County prosecutor Randall Gaylord previously charged Harris-Moore with the plane theft because he landed it in San Juan County. The crime was not included in the original charges but was added just days before Harris-Moore entered his plea in December 2011.
Harris-Moore was a thorn for Western Washington police since boyhood. He led authorities on a two-year game of cat-and-mouse in stolen cars, boats and airplanes. His run ended in 2010 after he crash-landed a stolen plane in the Bahamas and was arrested on a stolen boat in a hail of bullets.
The youthful thief who gained international notoriety acknowledged dozens of crimes and was sentenced to seven years in prison as part of a 2011 plea deal resolving charges against him in three Washington counties.
Among those crimes was first-degree theft for stealing a Cirrus airplane from Anacortes in Skagit County in February 2010 and flying it to Orcas Island in San Juan County.
Earlier this month, Skagit County Prosecutor Rich Weyrich, who refused to take part in the plea deal, charged Harris-Moore with second-degree burglary for breaking into Anacortes Airport, and first-degree theft for taking the plane.
Weyrich said he didn't join the plea deal because he wanted Harris-Moore to answer for the Skagit County crimes in a local courtroom. Weyrich did not immediately return a call or an email on Monday seeking comment.
Charging Harris-Moore with theft of the plane - a crime for which he's already serving prison time - would appear to violate his constitutional right against being prosecuted twice for the same crime.
However, Skagit County could still be able to pursue the burglary charge.
Harris-Moore's lawyer, John Henry Browne, said last week it was "juvenile" for Weyrich to pursue further charges against his client, and the realization that Harris-Moore had already pleaded guilty to one of the latest charges made it "even more silly."
"Obviously Mr. Weyrich doesn't know the background of this case," Browne said. "Maybe this will make him change his mind."
San Juan County prosecutor Randall Gaylord previously charged Harris-Moore with the plane theft because he landed it in San Juan County. The crime was not included in the original charges but was added just days before Harris-Moore entered his plea in December 2011.
Harris-Moore was a thorn for Western Washington police since boyhood. He led authorities on a two-year game of cat-and-mouse in stolen cars, boats and airplanes. His run ended in 2010 after he crash-landed a stolen plane in the Bahamas and was arrested on a stolen boat in a hail of bullets.
For those that are ticked off that Harris-Moore will not be tried for another felony should read up on our constitutional rights.  It's called "Double Jeopardy".  He'll go to court for his burglary charge, get up to a year and then the prosecutor will announce his running for a higher level political office. Â
As I said before, the seven years he got and whatever he gets tacked on for the burglary is good enough for me. Â I'd rather not hear Harris-Moore's name anymore during those seven years but then again, we have prosecutors aspiring for higher office and this is a great opportunity for them. Â There are far greater crimes being committed out there with A LOT less jail time being handed out for them. Â
You'll have to excuse our small-town-esque country prosecutor: he ain't exactly no Mark Lindquist...
is this lawyer for real.. or is he looking for some media face time for enhancement of a polical carreer. The state is broke and he wants to convict a pleaed out kid.. how dump.
In this case, more time is good time. Add away!
John Henry Browne is a POS
The traveling circus of John Henry Browne continues...
" Harris-Moore's lawyer, John Henry Browne, said last week it was "juvenile" for Weyrich to pursue further charges against his client, and the realization that Harris-Moore had already pleaded guilty to one of the latest charges made it "even more silly."
Whats silly is that John Henry Brown wont admit that this isn't about prosecuting Colton for crimes, but adding time on his sentence. DUH>>> And trust me, that isn't silly or petty. Colton is nothing but a jerk off that got a slap on the wrist for what he did. He deserves ten times more than what he got.Â
@snow surfer No, it's about getting votes for the prosecutor.
@snow surfer Take your disgust up with the Judge.
KOMOTV would love to see him escape so that they can avoid doing hard news reporting and get back to entertainment.
if he dont speak for the nowa days,,,, no colt you cant do that ! its called get a job. yes, where the H E and double hockey sticks do you find that? when since 1999 jobs became health insurance less and only 4 hours a day ????? and employers got away with it and still do. sorry son for letting those choices become ones you chose to take, i do beleave children should not ever have to go to extremes to make anyone understand how hard it is to make a living, to live and only to live
He put the hurt on a lot of innocent people and for what? Cheap thrills?, most of us he did damage to took a big hit financially and emotionally. Seven years is no cake walk , some of us will never be the same due to this kids crap. Thanks Colton thanks for taking in a few moments what it took a life time to build.
@Cindertang"some of us will never be the same"..... Sounds like your possessions own you.Â
@Cindertang Insurance? I'm probably over insured on most of my possessions simply for the fact I have kids and I know they may break something. What did you miss out on that insurance can't replace?
@kockatoo Peace of mind and a sense of justice. No insurance can restore those.
@KieferSkunk @Glassman @kockatoo He plead guilty to SOME of his crimes, not all of them. I'd like to see him serve at least 15 years in total, maybe more.
 I do think the prosecutor is an idiot for not checking the convictions before launching this case.
@Glassman @kockatoo Does that mean that Harris-Moore should be tried twice for the same crime, though? He did plead guilty to his crimes.
Colton needed to answer for his crimes, and he's doing so. 7 years for non violent crimes is good enough. 7 years in Prison is not a walk in the park, exactly, although admittedly I have no clue how it is for HIM. You can't simply violate someone's rights, even if you think he "got off lightly" for his crimes. Sure, colton could spend more time, but our court system worked as it was supposed to, and Colton took the deal for 7 years time. You can't double charge him crimes. It's illegal to make him serve twice for the same crime. Period.Â
And while I believe this dude is exactly where he belongs, I did find it entertaining watching his exploits on the news, and even found myself sort of cheering him on. Does that make me a hypocrite, probably. But I'm not ashamed in having taken pleasure while he was on the run and doing his thing, leading Police on a two year chase and making them look the fools they truely are.Â
Double jeopardy is one thing,... however, charging him for all the violations of the law, would be the correct thing to do, that way, the only thing left, would be double jeopardy.. Since he wasn't charged with the burglary or breaking into the airport, then, it is fair game.. I would really like to see him serve another three years, for a total of 10 years.. Maybe he will have grown up a bit, but, I doubt he will be anything more than what he is today, when he gets out.. (a drain on society)
The problem is he isn't cleaning rest stop toilets for life.
@Ankle Biter Only people that think like you should clean rest stop toilets for the rest of their lives.
@nwlib @Ankle Biter No Kidding. Ankle Biter, I think 7 years in the big house is punishment enough. And, I'm sure he knows not many companies are going to hire him as a felon when he gets out... no need for your negative input. Â
Yet more evidence that politically motivated persecutors, err I mean, prosecutors, will stop at nothing to advance their political careers. Â It was obvious at the outset that this was a violation of the accused's fifth amendment rights. Â Okay, the "kid" is a scumbag, but that doesn't justify ignoring his rights. Â Doing so make Weyrich no better than Harris-Moore.
This little punk got off lightly because he had a good lawyer who worked a good deal.You may bet his lawyer was in on getting the Skagit County aircraft theft added to the plea deal thefts for exactly this reason.He knew the Skagit prosecutor was not going along so he had this one added at the last minute and pulled it off.Too bad, this major felon needed to serve nothing less than 10 years for this multi-state/international major crime spree including weapons violations.
I say 7 years to much. WESTnets drug task force leader got busted for 700 felony gun violations, 5 years per, 3500 years, and what did he get? 1 year probation....
if you KILL someone while drunk driving you get 2 or 3 years behind bars. seven years for property crimes where no one is physically harmed is more than enough time.
@dorimonsonfan Colton Harris-Moore was convicted of 33 felonies.  Do you have any idea how hard someone has to work to be convicted of 33 felonies?  He was suspected of burglarizing hundreds of homes that could never be proven.  You still think 6.5-7 years is an adequate sentence?
@dorimonsonfan  Agreed.Â
The "kid" is not a kid. He committed adult crimes, lots of burglaries, several felonies, and a pile of federal crimes surrounding the planes/airport/flying craziness. 7 years is a slap on the wrist, we'll likely be hearing from this criminal again. His fans are nothing more than fools that weren't victims this time. Unfortunate that his nutty mom couldn't join him.
Sounds like Mr. Weyrich is trying to use his position for political reasons. The kid never hurt anyone and he is going to serve 7 years. Thats enough.
@Blindman Wow! So burglary and theft never hurts anyone? Man, if there is ever a time you proved your username, this is it! Should add ignorant to it.
@Zoso @Blindman It's obvious to me that Blindman meant that Harris-Moore never spilled anyone's blood, never sent anyone to a hospital, never caused anyone any bodily harm, never stole any prescription medicines or medical devices so I agree with him that Prosecutor Weyrich is just trying to make political hay.
@Furd Yeah and I sure as hell ain't gonna worry about it as long as he's in jail.
@Zoso @Furd Maybe, maybe not. YOU sure as heck don't know what he might do.
@Zoso @Furd How very cavalier of you. Way to give someone the chance to turn their life around. :P
@Furd Yeah, then just wait when he gets out, he'll be back on another crime spree.
Honestly, I'd take a whack job that took my stuff over a whack job that shoots up a movie theater any day of the week.
This guys was so entertaining! Let the barefoot bandit go!!!
@Larry Bernandez Dude, he was super entertaining man. That kid was hella funny! I guess I couldn't laugh if it happened to me... but it would be one hell of an adventure living his life. This guy will go down in history.Â
@Larry BernandezI can't wait. When he gets out I'm going to go over to his house, eat his food, look at porn on his computer, drop an upper-decker, then drive away in his car and leave it in a ditch.
@RandomShiz2Â meanwhile he will probably be at your house doing the same.
@Larry Bernandez I wonder if you would find it entertaining if he stole and destroyed your property. He deserves all the jail time he gets.