The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal has denied a Vinton man’s appeal of his second-degree murder conviction.
Zachary Alexander Bench, 24, was convicted by a jury on March 10, 2017, for the 2015 shooting death of Jody Barlow, 33, in Starks.
On June 23, 2017, Bench received a mandatory life sentence without benefit of parole for the second-degree murder charge and a 40-year sentence for an obstruction of justice charge.
The sentences are running consecutively and Bench was ordered to serve his time at hard labor.
Barlow was shot multiple times in the head and his body was found in a wooded area off Old River Road in Starks near the Calcasieu-Beauregard parish line. His truck, off-road vehicle and trailer were discovered burned near the 2000 block of Green Moore Road.
Julia Barlow, widow of Jody Barlow, spoke at sentencing and said her late husband was the “best type of friend to have. He was a great human being down to his soul.”
Judge David Ritchie, who presided over the trial and also sentenced Bench, said the defendant was “fake and dishonest” in his video interview with authorities.
“He tried to make himself look good while he sociopathically lied,” Ritchie said.
In calling Bench’s crime one in which a life sentence was appropriate, Ritchie spoke of Bench’s efforts to destroy evidence, including melting down the weapons that were involved in the murder and burning Barlow’s truck, offroad vehicle and trailer.
“He went to extreme measures to cover his tracks and the murder,” Ritchie said.
Bench appealed his conviction based on his assertion that evidence at trial was insufficient to negate a claim of self-defense; the prosecutor committed misconduct by commenting on the evidence or lack thereof; a non-unanimous jury verdict is unconstitutional, and the imposition of consecutive sentences was unconstitutionally excessive.
The 3rd Circuit, after reviewing the record of the case, said it found no such errors and denied the appeal.
