BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz. – A hit and run vehicle-pedestrian fatality in Bullhead City charged as second degree murder is being resolved with a probation guaranteed plea agreement. James Barr, 46, Laughlin, is being convicted of failing to remain at the scene of an accident involving death.
There’s no dispute that Barr was driving when a passenger tumbled out of his vehicle and was fatally injured when run over on Feb. 19 in the vicinity of Highway 95 and Hancock Road. Deputy Mohave County attorney Jacob Cote said it is unclear if the victim, Moses French, 40, fell or was forced out of the moving vehicle from a rear seat passenger position.
“There’s some disagreement as to how the victim ended up being ejected from the vehicle,” Cote said during an Oct. 7 hearing in Kingman. “He did, one way or another, fall out of the vehicle the defendant was driving.”
Cote said French died of blunt force trauma.
Barr drove away from the accident scene, but was arrested a week later during a traffic stop resulting in seizure of a drug pipe and a trace of methamphetamine. He pleaded guilty to possession of dangerous drugs for the second incident.
Terms of the deal require Superior Court Judge Megan McCoy to order an eight-month jail sentence and place Barr on supervised probation on Oct.27.
