Prodigious Songcraft Blooms in Sarah Jarosz - The Austin Chronicle

A Simple StorySitting in a corner booth at a North AustinIHOP, Barrs smiles often and laughs easily.His hands are expressive, large – remarkablyso for his modest 5-foot-10-inch frame – andrough from years of manual labor. He hasn’tbeen able to work recently because of backtrouble, and between visits to the doctor andcaring for a grandchild, he spends much ofhis free time trying to track down leads thatmight help clear his name. He looks for oldfriends and acquaintances from the earlySeventies and pumps them for informationand for additional sources – people whomight remember something that could nowhelp him. He grew up in Austin, living inEastside projects with his mother, Margaret,who worked as a cleaning lady at one of thedepartment stores that still operated onCongress Avenue.Barrs is charming and apparently guilelessand never sounds bitter or angry about hisfate. His simple determination to clear hisname is in part what attracted Austin defenseattorney Keith Hampton to his case. Hamptonwas sitting in his office one afternoon when inwalked Barrs, carrying a worn cardboard boxfull of documents, “and he wants to get hisname cleared,” Hampton recalled. “I askedhim some questions and realized that he’dserved his time and was close to getting offparole.” That struck Hampton,and he couldn’t help but wonder,“Why would he go to allthis trouble for something thatis so far in the past?”Barrs told Hampton hisstory. “I was pretty stunnedby what I was hearing,” thelawyer said. He even called ina colleague to hear the tale, tosee if maybe he was missingsomething. She was similarly impressed.“This has a ring of truth to it,” Hamptonsaid. “This guy seems completely honest.”Barrs’ story is deceptively simple. He sayshe was wrongly fingered for the robbery byJackson, a man he’d known for years, butnot well. Barrs had dated Jackson’s sister asa teen in the mid-Sixties but says he neverhung around with Jackson (better known as“Lee Lee”), whom his mother consideredbad news. Hopes was only an acquaintance;he drove a beer truck during the day andworked nights as a bouncer at the Palladiumclub on the corner of East 12th Street andComal. That’s the only place Barrs ever sawHopes, he says, a fact that Hopes confirms.“I used to see him around,” Hopes saidrecently, but the two weren’t close.Why Jackson fingered Barrs for theMinimax job remains uncertain, althoughBarrs believes he knows. Just before the robbery,Barrs, although he was married toBetty, had begun a very brief affair with awoman he later learned was a steady girlfriendof Jackson’s. “I kept my eye on himfrom a distance,” Barrs said, “but it didn’thelp me out, because when I met [his girlfriend],it set off a fire under him.” Jacksondied in 1993, and Barrs has long since losttrack of the girl.Jackson, according to both Barrs andHopes, was a skittish guy who’d been in andout of trouble for years. When the cops camecalling, Jackson always got nervous. He oftenran, and in those days running generallyended with a beating, they said (at least oneformer Austin Police Department cop on thebeat in the Seventies confirmed that wouldnot have been uncommon). Barrs says he’sbeen told that whenever the cops squeezedJackson, he told them whatever he could.Barrs believes that when they came callingon the Minimax robbery, Jackson not onlygot nervous, he also got even with Barrs.Based on the available record, the storyJackson told police about the robberychanged officially and significantly no lessthan three times, including while he was onthe witness stand at Barrs’ trial. According toNapier’s police report, when Jackson wasfirst asked about the robbery he denied anyinvolvement. Later, he said that he andHopes had been hanging at Martin’s DriveInn, a popular East side hangout, when Barrsand his wife rolled up in Barrs’ 1961 FordFalcon. Barrs complained about not havingmoney and suggested the foursome commita robbery, Jackson first told police. Jackson’sonly involvement was to drive the group – ina gold car that belonged to“I hope thatI can fix it so thatwhen I leave thisearth, I can havea clean slate.”– Ronnie BarrsHopes, he said – and heremained outside whileHopes, Barrs, and his wifewent into the store.(Jackson’s description ofHopes’ car conflicts withYura’s statement to policejust after the robbery thatthe car she saw was actuallytwo-toned, red and white.)After the shot was fired the three fled,Jackson said, and headed north on I-35.After additional questioning, Jacksonchanged his story to say that Hopes hadremained in the car and that he, Barrs, andBetty went into the store, and that Bettycarried a .22-caliber pistol while Barrswielded the .38 that fired the errant shot. Inthat retelling, Jackson said he made off witha total of $700 and didn’t mention theescape route.On the stand, Jackson’s story morphedonce again. This time he said there wereabout three people in the store during therobbery, and that once he and the Barrs wereinside, Ronnie Barrs ushered everyonebehind the meat counter, where he madethem all lie down. The trio stayed togetherthe entire time they were inside, he said, andall three of them went to the manager’sbooth together to get the cash. No one wasin the booth at the time, he said. They left byspeeding off north on I-35, with Hopesbehind the wheel.Jackson’s various recorded accounts of thecrime are not only internally inconsistent,but strikingly, none of the details from any ofCONTINUED ON P.22City of AustinEnvironmentalAwarenessAwardsNominate a person or group by March 1 atwww.coolaustin.org/awards for making a“green” difference in Austin’s environment. 50%OFFBIGGERBIGGERBIGGERBIGGERSTRONGERSTRONGERSTRONGERSTRONGERPOLITICS OPINION NEWSaustinchronicle.com/newsdeskwww.LoneStarLaserClinic.com512-637-LASR2111 Dickson Dr., Suite 20, 78704(behind Kerbey Lane - S. 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