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CASTLE DALE, Emery County — A Texas man has been sentenced to prison for trying to kill his girlfriend during a domestic dispute at a Utah gas station.
Robert Matthew Barney, 22, of Limestone, Texas, pleaded guilty late last month in 7th District Court to attempted murder.
The charge was reduced from a first-degree felony to a third-degree felony as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, according to court records. Barney was then sentenced to serve up to 5 years in prison.
On April 28, Barney and his girlfriend were sitting in a car when they began arguing outside a gas station in Green River. Witnesses told Emery County sheriff's deputies Barney started choking the woman so they intervened, sheriff's spokeswoman Janalee Luke said.
The bystanders told deputies that once they got involved, Barney ran from the car, crossed a set of railroad tracks and headed into open country. His 20-year-old girlfriend had injuries consistent with being strangled and was bleeding from one of her hands, deputies said.
Barney was arrested the following day when he showed up at the Green River Medical Center.
At the time of his arrest, Barney was a private first class in the Marine Corps serving with a unit based in Indian Head, Maryland. He enlisted in April 2014 and was never deployed, according to the Marine Corps.
Barney was discharged from the service nearly two months after his arrest, Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Rob Dolan said Wednesday.
"He is not affiliated with the Marine Corps in any fashion," Dolan said, adding that Barney's early discharge is "indicative of the fact that the character of his service was incongruent with Marine Corps' expectations and standards."
