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Last updated on Monday, May 12, 2014
(BLOOMFIELD) - A 2007 murder case that has been on hold because the suspect was deemed not competent to stand trial has been dismissed because the accused former Worthington man has died.
The murder case against the late Harvey Eugene Barr was dismissed in Greene Circuit Court on Thursday morning. County Prosecutor Jarrod Holtzclaw says Barr died on Tuesday at Deaconess Gateway Medical Center in Evansville.
He was 76 years old and had been a resident of the Evansville State Hospital for the past seven years. Barr, who formerly lived at 240 West Street in Worthington where the shooting took place, admitted to police that he pulled the trigger to the handgun that fatally wounded 54-year-old Linton resident Ralph Mason on June 29, 2007.
Barr was 69 at the time of his arrest. After several mental health evaluations, Barr was determined to be incompetent to stand trial and was ordered to the state hospital.
Annual evaluations determined that Barr was unable to assist with his defense and he remained under state mental health care. According to an autopsy report, Mason died from blood loss due to a severed artery caused by a gunshot wound to the abdomen after being shot with a .38 caliber handgun.
Barr called police the day of the shooting reporting he had shot Mason. Barr claims he shot Mason cause he had been in his attic all day and there was another man still in the attic.
Patricia Keller who also lived in the apartment building told police she and Mason had been away most of the day and Mason was walking from the parking lot between the two apartments when he was shot.
Police found no forced entry to Barr's apartment and on one had been in his attic.
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