By Christine Reid
The Rocky Mountain News
BOULDER, Colo. — A 27-year-old man awaiting trial for the murder of Boulder businessman Sergio Libman now faces charges that he tried to escape from jail by cutting through a bar in the window of his cell.
The bar in Ryan Barry’s fourth-story window in the Jefferson County jail in Golden was nearly severed when a deputy discovered it, according to an arrest affidavit filed in court Friday.
Found hidden in his cell were an 8-by-1-inch piece of metal and a 14-inch piece of wire from a spray bottle, deputies reported.
Barry’s apparent plan was to cut the bar, break out the window, and then shinny down the outside of the jail by tying together the seven blankets and nine sheets he had hoarded, the report stated.
To keep deputies from noticing the weakened bar, coffee grounds were placed inside the 3-inch gash to make it appear whole. A picture frame or book also was placed in front of it.
“I know who the (expletive) is that snitched on me,” Barry told deputies when they made the discovery Dec. 20. “Ain’t this the (expletive)?”
Barry had been housed at the jail since Nov. 5 as part of a “courtesy swap” with Jeffco officials who were trying to ease crowding at certain security levels, according to Boulder jail records.
After his alleged plan to escape was thwarted, Jeffco officials asked that Barry immediately be moved back to Boulder.
Jefferson County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Shires said even if Barry had made it through “one layer” of security at the jail, he would not have been successful getting far because of other safeguards. He could not go into detail, he said, for security reasons.
“Nobody has ever broken out of our jail, or the old one built in 1950,” Shires said.
Authorities say they believe Barry got the crude instruments by breaking jail property during his stay in Golden, although they would not elaborate on where he may have gotten the 8-inch piece of metal.
Capt. Larry Hank said Barry will be in the Boulder County jail’s discipline unit, where he is locked up 23 hours a day.
There has been one successful escape from Boulder’s jail, Hank said. It happened more than a decade ago when an inmate threw a rope over the inside courtyard wall and scrambled over the roof. He was caught by guards, however, before he got to the edge of the parking lot.
Barry has been considered an escape risk in the past, according to court records. An incident his lawyers said was a suicide attempt was dismissed by jail officials as a plot to escape.
He is scheduled to stand trial May 5 on a charge of first-degree murder for the December 2006 homicide of Libman. Police say Barry posed as a buyer for Libman’s Porsche, fatally shooting the businessman and stealing the car.
Barry was arrested in Kansas a few days after the slaying.
He faces new felony charges of attempted escape — which could lead to mandatory additional time in prison - having contraband inside the jail and misdemeanor criminal mischief.
If convicted of murder, he will be sentenced to prison with no chance of parole.
Copyright 2008 Rocky Mountain News