Convicted killer Jason Ryan Barnes was sentenced this morning to four years in state prison, but with jail-time credit he could be free in about a year.

A jury convicted Barnes of involuntary manslaughter for the December 2018 death of 58-year-old Bernhard “Ben” Bertain, who died of a ruptured spleen three days after Barnes struck him with a skateboard. Barnes faced a maximum penalty of eight years.

Judge Timothy Canning imposed four years for assault with a deadly weapon. He sentenced Barnes to three years for a second count of assault with a deadly weapon, but that term will run concurrently.

Barnes, 49, received no time for involuntary manslaughter or for the two special allegations of use of a deadly weapon and inflicting great bodily. Canning announced sentences for those charges but “stayed” them, meaning they weren’t imposed.

“Judge Canning just sentenced Mr. Barnes as if he had swung the skateboard at Mr. Bertain and missed,” Deputy District Attorney Roger Rees said after the hearing.

One of the jurors who voted to convict Barnes in May attended the sentencing, hoping for some closure. Juror Dave Silverbrand said the jury deliberated two full days and ultimately decided to convict. Silverbrand said he remains comfortable with the verdict.

After learning this morning that Barnes could be out in about a year, Silverbrand said “Holy Moly! That’s barely enough time for him to pack and unpack his things.”

Judge Canning said Barnes expressed deep remorse when he learned Bertain had died, and he “has been very concerned and remorseful throughout these proceedings.”

The trial was unusual, with Canning dismissing charges of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter midway through. The jury convicted Barnes of involuntary manslaughter, the only remaining option.

The fatal assault occurred on Dec. 22, 2018, in a parking lot outside a laundromat in Burre Center in Eureka. A laundromat employee heard screaming and went out to find Barnes verbally abusing a woman who was sitting on a curb and asking to be left alone.

Bertain, who had been watching, intervened and asked Barnes to stop. Instead Barnes swung his skateboard at Bertain and the employee, missing her but hitting Bertain in the side. Barnes then hit Bertain again.

Three days later, after being flown to a hospital In Napa, Bertain died from a ruptured spleen.

Six of Bertain’s family members were in court this morning, with several of them speaking. Bertain was one of four brothers, and two of them were there on his behalf.

“I really don’t know what to say to Mr. Barnes,” Drew Bertain said. He described his brother Ben as a caring person “who would go out of his way to help a perfect stranger he’d never met.”

Looking at Barnes, who was dressed in an orange jumpsuit and standing in the jury box, Drew Bertain told him “I really don’t want to have any bad feelings for you.” Barnes nodded.

“I just hope your life changes and you make better choices when you come out.”

Charley Bertain, another brother, wasn’t as easy on Barnes.

“I hope he gets the maximum time he can get for this unfortunate situation,” he said.

Susan Mendes, a cousin, also said she hoped for “the fullest sentence.” Mendes said Ben was a loving man, simple and honest, who died because “he stood up for a woman.”

Her husband Mike Mendes, calling Ben “a great man,” echoed his wife’s sentiments.

“I just hope the court puts everything on (Barnes’s) back that he earned,” he said.

At the time of his death Ben Bertain was living in a storage unit in Arcata. Family members said he had other options, but that was the lifestyle he liked.

“He chose what he was doing and where he lived,” Drew Bertain said. “He wanted his freedom.”

Barnes also spoke briefly. He turned to family members and said how sorry he was, and he asked for forgiveness.

Barnes’s mother, Vicki Thomsen, told the judge her son never got in any trouble until he was about 20, and then it was “slight trouble.” She went on to place blame on Barnes’s former girlfriend, the woman he was accosting in the Burre Center parking lot.

The woman was always making trouble, Thomsen said, noting that “she even got me evicted from my apartment.”

“She wasn’t a good match for Jason. She knew how to push his buttons.”

Thomsen said she feels “truly sorry” for Bertain’s family.

“I hope they can forgive him,” she said.

The former girlfriend was Desiree Henley, who will be remembered as one of two suspects in the arson fire that destroyed the Blue Heron motel on Broadway.

Barnes was represented by Deputy Public Defender David Celli, who last week lost a motion for a new trial. Celli argued the evidence presented during trial didn’t support the jury’s verdict of guilty.

There wasn’t conclusive evidence, Celli said, that the skateboard attack was the cause of Bertain’s death.

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