Sixteen-year-old James Davon Hill was supposed to be under city supervision when he robbed and killed Kenny Barnes at his clothing shop on U Street.
Hill had a history of cocaine dealing and stealing a car when he was arrested on a charge of possessing a gun in 2000. Instead of sending Hill to juvenile jail, the judge placed him in a group home for teens. Hill kept running away. The system kept arresting him and returning him to the juvenile homes — even after he showed up for court with a bullet wound to his arm.
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The last time he ran away, Hill killed a man in Southeast Washington. Two months later he killed Barnes, 37.
At the time of the murders, the youth services division didn’t even know Hill was missing.
Hill surrendered in October 2001 and was sentenced to a 105-year prison sentence for three second-degree murder charges, which carry 33 years apiece, and six years for carrying a concealed weapon.
Kenny Barnes Sr. blames the system for his son’s death. He sued the city and forced a overhaul of the youth services division.
Barnes, a clinical psychologist, says violence is a public health issue, not a legal issue.
“Do I think prisoners need more time? That’s not even the issue,” he said. “That’s waiting until after something happens. By that time, it’s really too late.”
Barnes now runs a nonprofit called ROOT Inc., which seeks to prevent more killings by working with kids who at risk for getting into serious trouble. He said society can tell which children are predisposed to be violent. They are abused, grow up in poverty and are surrounded by violence. They don’t have a father and the mother is not around.
He said Hill had violent tendencies that everyone ignored.
“Nobody wakes up in the morning and says I’m going to kill someone today,” Barnes said.
