A 40-year-old professional rock climber has been sentenced to life in prison for repeatedly brutally sexually assaulting a young woman in Yosemite National Park in 2016.
A federal jury in February found Charles Barrett guilty of two counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact that occurred over the weekend in Yosemite National Park, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.
Prosecutors said Barrett sexually assaulted a 19-year-old who was hiking in the park over the weekend.
Barrett’s lawyers asked the judge to sentence him to less than 15 and a half years in prison, citing his alcoholism and mental instability.
“Barrett’s long history of sexual violence supports a life sentence,” U.S. Attorney Talbot said in a news release following the sentencing. “He used his status as a prominent climber to attack women in the climbing community, and when victims began reporting, Barrett lashed out publicly in a threatening and intimidating manner.”
David Torres, one of Barrett’s attorneys, said they plan to appeal the case.
“We believe a life sentence is excessive,” Torres said.
Prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum that Barrett, who lived and worked in the national park, isolated a 19-year-old woman in August 2016 and forcibly raped her. Prosecutors said Barrett strangled the woman during the attack to the point where she feared death.
The next day, the woman, named in court documents as KG, was in pain and had bruises. Despite this and the woman’s resistance, Barrett sexually assaulted her twice more, prosecutors said.
After the woman left the campus, Barrett later told her in a text message that he wanted to see her again. But she told him he raped her and she never wanted to see him again. Barrett denied raping the woman and wrote in a later message: “Can we be friends? I miss you.
She replied: “I find it difficult to be friends with my rapist.”
He continued to send her messages about the assault, according to prosecutors. She reported the crime in April 2020.
Three other women testified at the trial that Barrett also sexually assaulted them. No charges were filed in the attacks, which occurred in 2010, 2015 and 2016, because they did not fall under federal jurisdiction, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A woman, described in court documents only by her initials SF, said Barrett sexually assaulted her in March 2010 by rubbing his hands on her genitals while she slept at a friend’s house, prosecutors said. In the years since, Barrett harassed SF online, including threatening her directly or through third parties.
Barrett was ultimately convicted of making criminal threats in January 2022.
In Barrett’s sentencing memorandum, his attorneys noted that he “does have redeeming qualities, despite comments to the contrary from the government and those who submitted letters against Charles.”
“Mr. Barrett has recognized his demons,” they wrote.
But prosecutors said in the memo that Barrett refused to accept responsibility for his crimes.
While in custody, Barrett made hundreds of phone calls, threatening victims with violence and retaliatory lawsuits and claiming the two victims hatched a plot to ruin his life, prosecutors said.
In a phone call with her uncle last month, Barrett called the victims’ accounts “wild” and “crazy,” claiming the trial amounted to “random girls doing whatever they want.” He claimed he had not received a fair trial and said he was writing a book.
“Barrett’s jail calls continue to demonstrate a complete lack of remorse and a victim mentality from which he cannot recover,” prosecutors said in the memo.
Local news outlets reported that four of the victims were in court when Barrett was sentenced.
“There is only one way to stop serial rapists and experienced criminals like this [Barrett]”, KG wrote in a victim impact statement. “This was to not give him another chance to prove his abilities. “
Times staff writer Nathan Solis contributed to this report.
