CONVICT ASKS NEW DAY IN COURT

ALTON, Mo. -- In August 1999, Carl Hollis of Alton was found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Robert E. Barnes, 62, also of Alton, and was sentenced to life in prison.

This week, in circuit court, he asked for a new trial, arguing he didn't understand what was going on at his trial and that he mistakenly decided to forego counsel and represent himself.

He also told the judge his wife, Lisa, should not have been allowed to testify against him because, he said, the law precludes a wife testifying against her spouse.

Senior Judge Paul McGhee of Dexter, Mo., will consider Hollis' arguments.

Tuesday was the first time Hollis, 33, spoke on his own behalf. In 1999, he sat through the trial and would not answer direct questions from the judge and he did not take the stand in his own defense.

Feb. 23, 1998, shooting

Hollis was charged with the Feb. 23, 1998, shooting death of Barnes. The day before prosecutors filed charges against Hollis, he opened fire on the man's son, Robert W. Barnes, 38, wounding him.

Both shootings took place at the Robert E. Barnes home near Alton. Along with finding him guilty of murder, the jury determined he was guilty of assault and armed criminal action.

That trial was presided over by Circuit Judge John Grimm of Cape Girardeau and was the culmination of a monthlong manhunt for Hollis in Oregon County after he escaped a jail elsewhere in the state.

Hollis was said to be very familiar with the wooded area in which he was hiding, was armed and of a state of mind that made him dangerous. He was taken into custody without incident at an unoccupied home near Alton.

This week, Hollis was called to the stand by his counsel, public defender Stephen Harris of Columbia, Mo., and testified he fired his public defender, Kent Hall of Jackson, Mo., prior to his circuit court trial starting on Aug. 25, 1999, because he did not agree with Hall's approach to the proceeding.

Hall testified Hollis did write him a letter asking him not to represent him at trial. However, Hall told the judge he sat next to Hollis during the trial and was ready to step in and help his former client, but Hollis never asked for his assistance.

Hollis said he decided to remain quiet throughout the trial because he did not understand any of the legal language and reiterated his wife should not have been allowed to testify.

Rachel Smith of St. Louis, an attorney with the Missouri attorney general's office, reminded the court that Grimm had read instructions to Hollis as to his representing himself and that Hollis had told the judge he understood what they were talking about.

Hollis told McGhee he'd read the trial transcript and although he has an associate of arts degree he did not understand what he was reading.

Oregon County prosecuting attorney Ray Lee Caskey reminded the court that Hollis' conviction has been upheld by the Missouri Court of Appeals.