By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The Onalaska man who allowed a teenage drinking party at his home after which a 15-year-old boy died from alcohol poisoning was sentenced yesterday to nine months in jail.
Nickolas Barnes
James W. Taylor, 30, was taken into custody following the proceedings yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.
Taylor was initially charged with second-degree manslaughter but pleaded guilty in February to lesser charges including furnishing liquor to minors and failing to summon assistance.
Judge Nelson Hunt said the outcome might serve as a caution to adults who facilitate binge drinking.
The sentencing ends a case that began when high school sophomore Nickolas Barnes passed out in Taylor’s front yard, following a drinking game in which he and another teenage boy reportedly downed more than 11 shots of vodka.
James W. Taylor
Prosecutors alleged Taylor told the teenagers to “let him sleep it off.”
Nickolas was found not breathing an hour or two later; his friends had removed his clothes and written on his body with a black marker.
Taylor and another man took him to a hospital, but Nickolas died two days later, on Sept. 21, 2009. His blood alcohol level was .32.
Nickolas’s grandmother Susan Patterson spoke for his family when she addressed Taylor, a father of several children.
“It’s been one year, seven months and 20 days since Nick died because you didn’t call 911,” Patterson said.
“I pray you will never ever know the empty feeling that is in our hearts over the loss of a child,” she said. “I hope the hands you put your children’s lives in know how to call 911.”
Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer explained the plea agreement saying no amount of time will make up for what happened, but “we believe with the facts we have, this is the best outcome.”
Defense attorney Don Blair told the court his client made a decision he will regret the rest of his life.
Taylor apologized for everything that happened.
“I don’t expect forgiveness or anything, I know what happened and there is nothing much to say,” he said. “I’m sorry Barnes family for your loss. If I could take his place, I would.”
•••
Read more on the plea agreement in “Onalaskan offers mixed pleas in teen’s alcohol poisoning death” from Thursday Feb. 24, 2011, here
Read about the party in “Remembering Nickolas Barnes” from Thursday Sept. 23, 2010, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
At every single person on here that believes they are holier than now parents… My Brother is not at fault here. If you all want to really know why James is only doing 9 months you can look at your own parenting. You allowed your child to go to a “birthday party” did not call the parents to check if there was a party or if there was drinking instead you trusted a 15 year old child to tell you the truth… Well sorry to inform you but 15 year olds lie just as well do 16,17,18 and so on. There were several adults/teenagers there and they should have called 911 just as well.. When he passed out maybe someone should have woke james up and told him instead of writing on his body like a bunch of children. James had no clue what was going on that was the only crime he commited…. Not being aware. The others at the party were not charged for anything if there was a party with a bunch of underage teens drinking why do not a one of them have a MIC. some of them were family and yes I love them. But my sister and nephews should not be going through this and neither should James. maybe your parents house did flood but you didnt know he had the vodka but if you didnt know he had the vodka,and you didnt know he wasnt at a birthday party”alcohol free” and you didnt know he was passed out on someones lawn what exactly do you know. I am a mother and I can tell you I will know all those little details about my child. Now I am not saying you are bad parents but you are putting James down for something that was inevitable. It was Nicks time to go. that may sound harsh but I truely believe that god has a plan and when its our time its our time. It doesnt matter if that boy was at home in his own yard, or at a park or at another party you son obviously did not know the dangers of drinking and went way over the limit. He crossed that line and something horrible happened. But do you really think blaming an innocent man can change the fact he past away? Do you really think putting a Father, Son, Brother, Friend and sole provider for a family is going to bring Nick back? I think your just ruining anothers family. dont you think its enough that James has to deal with this for the rest of his life, or that his children get to grow up in a place where they will be known as the murders children? People complain everyday about bullying in the school and children who commit suicide over bullying well not a one of you is setting an example because your children are going up to be bias against James and his family my nephews are in for school years that will be unbearbale because some of you dont know when is when. Just remember that your not the only one who lost something in this situation. there is a family that lost a father, husband, and son too. A father whose boys will be hesitant to even touch him because he has been gone. A 3 month old who will have to learn who is father is 9 months from now. So why dont you all put yourself in James’ situation. And Grow up!
I have know James and his family for many years and since I have known James he has always been very responsible and just focuses on whats in the best intrest of others, and what he did in the situation was what he felt was the best option at the moment. So everyone who is bad mouthing James and his family needs to take a second to ask your self what would you do if you were in that situation after being woken up out of a dead sleep, and it makes perfect sence to just drive the boy himself rather then wating for the ambulance to arive. Everyones basic insticts would have kicked in and as a trucker by career his instict told him to do what he knew best wich was to drive; Drive that kid to the hospital as fast as he could and thats exactly what he did. Because yes the could have easily called 911 but what exactly could have been done over the phone I personally would rather have the actual hand of a doctor then just the voice of an officer, and everyone keeps stating that the boy died in the yard but a number of people have stated that he died in the hospital after being pulled off life support after only 2 days.
Thank you Linda. The parents and grandparents were never in the picture until after that night when it was already too late.
why was a 15yo allowed to be in this situation in the first place? Where were the parents/adults in his home to place boundaries placed on his comings and goings?
The unfortunate thing about all this is it has been one sided since the very begining myself and others in james family were not to speak of what really happened in case of it going to trial and how the media can twist things and use what the want and leave out the rest of the story james taylor is a father of five children I his wife am a homemaker which leaves him solely responsible finacially for his 5 children, James myself and his children were not the home owners we were roomating with my mother who also has 2 teenagers. we were not living in the home we were living in a addition in the back. James taylor was sleeping in our addition to the home while a group of teens who were not supervised by their parents and to whom only a few of the teens parents even knew where they were at. Nick barnes had taken what was said by the other teens to be a gallon of vodka from his grandparents condimed trailer and brought it where him and other teens engaged in a drinking game that resulted in the boy consuming a deathly amount of alchohol. He passed out in the front yard where other friend teens wrote on him. NONE of this happend with ANY adults present and NO adults were aware of this teen party!!! It wasnt until my mother came home from work and found the boy passed out in the yard and asked what was wrong, the other teens informed her he had drank thats when she knew something was wrong and went back to my husbands “james taylor” and my living quarters in the addition and woke him saying a kid needed to go to the hospital, he then went to check on this kid and iin doing this realized the teen was not reponsive and was not sure if he was breathing, he told my step father to help in get the boy to the car so he can rush him to the hospital. He now says if he could do it differently he would have called 911 but he says at that moment all he could think was that an ambulance would have taken 45min to get there and he knew he could get to the hospital in less than 10. James taylor is an exceptional man who loves and takes care of his family. He is the type of person who would give his life any day to save a child! when him and I had to make a discision wether to take this to trial or accept a plea offer it was one of the hardest choices we have ever had to make, on one hand for him and I it would have justified us much better to fight this and prove his innocense, but having children you learn that you no longer think of whats best for us we now have to think of whats best for the children, we could fight for what we know is the truth and still possibly lose and get more time or except this plea for 3-9months and know that he will be back home with his family soon, and that our family and the family of mr. barnes will not have to go through the stress and heart ache of a trial that would go on forever. Our hearts and thoughts go out to the barnes family I have children of my own and would never never never imagine knowing what the loss of a child might feel like. But Everyone who thinks this is a one sided story has been mistaken he is not this person everyone is making him out to be! thank you for your time sheri lynn taylor
its so sad. James only pled guilty to a lesser charge so that he didn’t have to be separated from his family for a very long time. He didn’t provide alcohol to any minors, he was asleep in his bed when the teens stole the alcohol and were drinking. The fault doesn’t lie in James hands, it lies in the teens that were drinking, they all have cell phones, one of them should of called 911 rather than writing in markers all over his body. James is a great person, a great husband and a great dad, he would never have done what he was accused of.
James did not buy the alcohol for that party, in fact Nick Barnes brought the vodka the weekend before the so called party. And an adult did take the vodka away, and Nick stole the vodka back. My question is why did Nicks grandparents allow him to take the vodka from their house? Who should be blamed for that? Nick had a drinking problem long before the party in fact he and another teenager where in a car crash because they had been drinking. The parents or grandparents should not hold their heads so high, considering they didn’t even know where Nick was that night. And for a child to know that drinking is dangerous starts with good parenting and Values.