David L. Barnes: Unbridled Sexual Lust Cost this Birmingham Jurist His Judgeship

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted and Published on December 28, 2025

Judge David L. Barnes, Birmingham, Alabama.

David L. Barnes was a former judge in the Birmingham, Alabama Municipal Court, a former state legislator, and a former dean of the Miles College School of Law.

I knew Judge Barnes when he was the Presiding Judge of the Birmingham Municipal Court.  I am the city official who asked for and received Barnes' immediate resignation as a city judge on direct orders from former Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington, Jr.

This is What Happened and Why

One day in the 1990s, I received a phone from a longtime city vendor who reported to me, in my capacity as Special Counsel to Mayor Arrington, that Judge David Barnes dismissed a misdemeanor case involving a female defendant in exchange for oral sex in his private court chambers.  I was provided the first name of this female defendant and her physical description.  She worked as a stripper and escort in Birmingham and reportedly had a drug habit.

I immediately reported this sensitive and potentially explosive information to Mayor Arrington, who instructed me to find the victim and confirm whether the incident happened. If so, I was to obtain Judge Barnes’ immediate resignation.  If Judge Barnes refused to resign, I was instructed to report the incident to the Jefferson County District Attorney immediately thereafter.

Arrington assigned a member of his executive security detail to help me with this investigation.  We started working on the case immediately.

Searching for the Truth

My assigned officer and I searched every strip club in the city looking for a white stripper who matched the first name and physical description I was given.  She also had a distinctive tattoo on her left hand.

For two weeks, we went out every night to every “hole-in-the-wall” joint in the city looking for this woman.  I finally got a tip that a women matching the physical description and using the same first name was prostituting at an old motel in Pratt City near a trucking company.  We immediately went to the motel in street clothes and an unmarked police car.  The place was rundown and filthy.  Drugs, pimps, prostitutes, and Johns were everywhere. 

We went door-to-door, banging on each door, and looking inside each room.  We finally found her.

She was alone in the room, but she was not high.  The description of the tattoo I had been given matched the one on her left hand. 

I introduced myself and informed her that she was not in any trouble.  I told her I only need three things -- (a) her real name, (b) a look at her ID, and (c) for her to look me in the eyes and tell me whether she had oral sex with Judge David Barnes in his chambers.  She started crying and told me the whole story.  I knew right away that she was telling me the truth and that she was scared to death because Barnes was a powerful city judge.

I gave her my business card and instructed her to call me if anyone hassled her for any reason.  She stopped crying and I again assured her that she was not in any trouble or danger from providing me her witness account.

The next day, I pulled the city court records and found this woman's case.  The charges against her had been dismissed on Judge Barnes’ own motion and no reason was assigned for the dismissal of the case. There was no record that the prosecutor consented to the dismissal of criminal charges. 

Additionally, Judge Barnes’ private chambers matched the detailed description of the room that the woman had given me. 

I returned to the court records and found other cases of female defendants in Barnes’ court who had benefited from the same “sex-for-freedom” dismissal of charges.  This was now a full-blown sex scandal and Judge Barnes had to go.

I informed Arrington that the report we received was true.  He was livid. Once again, Arrington instructed me to get Judge Barnes’ immediate resignation.

Securing Judge Barnes’ Resignation

I went to Judge Barnes chambers to see him.  I told him why I was there.  He was stunned.  I informed him of my investigative findings and pulled out a notepad.  I instructed him to handwrite a resignation letter, effective immediately.  Barnes started crying and promised to stop his "sex-for-freedom" scheme.  I told Barnes, if he did not resign at that moment, I would be going to the County Courthouse to report his conduct to the District Attorney.  Barnes wrote and signed his resignation letter on the spot.  I left him in tears.

I took the resignation letter to Mayor Arrington. We never publicly disclosed the reason for Barnes’ immediate resignation.  Arrington and I were relieved that we had ended Barnes' abuse of judicial power and avoided the public disclosure of a bombshell sex scandal that would have rocked City Hall to its core.

Judge Barnes, who was married at the time of his resignation, served as a Deacon and Sunday School Superintendent at Friendship Baptist Church. He died on March 25, 2011.  After his death, the "South Court" at the Birmingham City Jail was renamed in Judge Barnes' honor.