The jury found Stallings guilty of raping the child

WILKS-BORE – Lucerne jurors on Friday found Barkim Stalings guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.

The 30-year-old Stollings showed no emotion when the juror announced his guilt on charges of child rape, legal sexual assault, sexual intercourse with deviance, indecent assault, molestation of minors and burglary.

After Judge David W. Lupas released the jury from the courtroom, Stallings broke down and cried.

After the verdict, Assistant District Attorney Susan Lackenbeal, who persecuted Stallings, comforted the victim and her family.

Lupas ordered an assessment of Staling by the Pennsylvania Sex Criminals Evaluation Council to determine if he met the criteria as a brutal sexual predator. Stoling is scheduled to be sentenced on August 17.

Wilkes-Barre police arrested Stalings for raping a girl on October 4, 2020 at her residence on Coal Street.

Within four days of the trial, Laekenbeel presented evidence, including DNA derived from the girl’s underwear and body, that matched Stallings’ genetic profile. Lackenbeal described the jury attacks in detail.

The girl testified that she was at home with her younger sister in separate bedrooms when she encountered Stallings at her door. She said Stalings raped her, apologized and committed sexual assault before falling asleep on her bed.

Lackenbeal said Stallings fainted on the bed, exposing his buttocks.

When the girl’s mother came home from work, the daughter told what had happened, and the mother took photos of Stalings on the girl’s bed on a mobile phone, which were demonstrated by the jury.

Stalls’ lawyer Paul Walker told the jury in his defense when the girl invited him into the house that Stalls wanted to use a phone or a cell phone charger.

Stallings said he was known throughout the neighborhood, including the girl’s mother.

Earlier in the day, Lackenbeal and Walker delivered the closing arguments of the jury.

Walker told the jury, as throughout the trial, that people of good character don’t usually commit crimes. He singled out two witnesses to the character who testified that Stallings was a nonviolent man and respected in the neighborhood.

“You have a guy who has given up. You have a guy who gave his DNA, and you have a guy who took a position who was not obliged to do it, ”Walker said in his closing argument. .

Stallings testified in his defense, telling the jury that he was the father of four daughters and one son, and would most likely pay “a fool or a prostitute.”

Walker suggested that the evidence and the way the police handled it were contaminated.

During her closing remarks, Lackenbeal reminded the jury that the DNA obtained from the girl’s underwear and body coincided with Stallings’ genetic profile. In two places on the girl’s body, Lackenbeal said that the DNA matched 100 percent.

Considering Stallings’ testimony, Laekenbeel described it as “completely ridiculous and unworthy of mention.”

Lackenbeal said the girl bravely testified before Stallings, his family and other strangers in the courtroom.

“She was adamant,” Lackenbeal described the victim at the scene.