Florida woman Melanie Eam was sentenced Wednesday in the second-degree murder of her ex-boyfriend James Barry, according to records reviewed by Law&Crime. She will spend 50 years behind bars, with 866 days time served credited.
Prosecutors convinced jurors that Eam stabbed Barry to death on November 17, 2016, shortly after he ended their 2-year relationship. They were close. Testimony at trial established that Eam often visited Barry’s home and cooked. Everybody seemed to get along.
Eam, however, didn’t want to let Barry go when he broke up with her.
Prosecutors said Eam fled the scene of the murder, but left her cell phone behind. They also said she briefly dropped by her parents’ home, stopped at an ATM, then escaped to Maryland.
Investigators followed Eam north after a cousin of hers contacted them. They interview her and she admitted to the murder, prosecutors said. That changed when Sam was in custody.
Her defense tried to pin the murder on Guy Hand, the boyfriend of Barry’s mother. They tried to suggest he was angry at Eam for somehow taking advantage of hospitality at their home, and that Hand might have killed the victim as part of an argument.
To say the least, Hand seemed content with Eam’s sentence.
Melanie Eam will be over 70 years old when she’s served her 50 year sentence for murder. Guy Hand, James Berry’s stepfather who tried to keep his stepson alive after he was stabbed by Eam said he is thrilled she will never be able to have children and pass on her genes. @WPTV
— Michelle Quesada (@M_Quesada) April 3, 2019
Eam plans on appealing.
[Mugshot via Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office]
