When then 37-year-old Jason Barnum entered the courtroom and pleaded guilty to shooting a police officer in Anchorage, Alaska, it wasn’t the crime he committed that had people talking about him, but the tattoo that filled the white of his right eye.
Barnum earned himself the nickname “Eyeball” and became an overnight sensation.
However, as it was reported that he started serving his long sentence, a rumor emerged that he was in fact the son of one of America’s most beloved actors.
It was in 2012 that Barnum fired a gun at an officer after they entered the hotel room he was staying in following an investigation of break-ins in vehicles and burglaries in the south of Anchorage.
The officers exited the hotel room, shooting back at Barnum, and soon, many other police officers joined in. The police evacuated guests from the hotel. Not long after, SWAT officers were at the scene.
The shot officer only sustained injuries, and Barnum received a sentence of over 20 years for what he did.
The police found jewelry and other valuables in a backpack in the hotel room. It was later determined that Barnum had gone on a crime spree. He stole cars and entered people’s homes looking for money to be able to buy heroin.
He was arraigned on one count of attempted murder and two counts of felony assault and his bail was set at $500,000. When asked if he understood what he was charged of and if he wanted an attorney, he simply answered, “Sure, why not.”
Barnum was a criminal known to the police who had been accused and convicted of 14 crimes prior to his last one.
The moment he entered the courtroom, all eyes were on him because of his distinctive looks. His body was covered in tattoos, but the one that attracted most attention was the one in his eye. The white of his right eyeball was tattooed in black.
Although it’s not uncommon to witness those sorts of tattoos nowadays, back in the day that was something rather new and unusual.
“I think Jason Barnum decided a long time ago that his life was about being hostile to people,” Anchorage Police Department Chief Mark Mew told local reporters. “It seems to me that he wakes up everyday wanting to do bad things to innocent folks and wants everybody to know it.”
Barnum claimed that he was forced to become a criminal after he failed to find a job because of his tattoos.
“I was living on the streets, and I tried to get a job, but of course, my beautiful face didn’t allow me to do that,” Barnum said during the hearing.
However, although he took most part of the blame on himself, he also blamed the Alaska Department of Corrections for not providing any help for him after leaving prison in 2010. “I tried man, I apolozige to the folks who are hurt from this.”
Before the sentence was given, Police Chief Officer Mark Mew spoke on that subject.
“I’m going to stick my neck out here and state the obvious. I’d like you to take a look at Mr. Barnum. He has the right to do this to himself and to express himself,” he said. “We can’t sentence him for that, but I think we can consider a guy’s attitude and his behavior.
Today, not much is known about “Eyeball,” but allegedly, he’s been serving his sentence at the Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward, Alaska.
When the public expressed interest about Barnum during his trial in 2012, a rumor started spreading around that he could be the son of Hollywood star Harrison Ford.
The Indiana Jones star showed up next to “Eyeball” Barnum in a Revcontent article titled “Harrison Ford has pretty much given up on his son.”
However, it was soon revealed that the rumor wasn’t true at all.