Staff photo / Guy Vogrin Joshua Barnes, 30, of Niles, is taken into custody Thursday afternoon in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. Barnes was found guilty of 10 counts involving the rape of a girl relative between January 2019 and August 2021.

WARREN — A Trumbull County jury took about 90 minutes Thursday to convict a Niles man of all 10 counts involving the rape of his girl relative starting in January 2019 when she was 10 and continuing into August 2021.

Joshua Barnes, 30, of 205 N. Bentley Ave., Niles, stood stoically as his attorney John Juhasz had Judge Andrew Logan individually poll the eight women and four men on the jury for their verdicts. They unanimously found Barnes guilty of five counts of rape that carry a potential life sentence, as well as two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, two counts of providing intoxicating liquor to an underage person and interference with custody. The verdicts’ announcement marked the end of the four-day trial and triggered tears from the defendant’s mother, who earlier Thursday testified in her son’s defense.

Logan said sentencing for Barnes is scheduled for May 24. His $500,000 bond was revoked and the defendant was taken in handcuffs to Trumbull County jail, where he has been incarcerated since Aug. 26. Barnes was arrested on a warrant after the victim’s father came to Niles police with the allegations after his daughter told him about the assaults that began shortly after the victim returned to Niles from Texas in late 2018, where she was staying with a grandparent.

Barnes took the stand in his own defense Thursday morning, denying all the accusations that he had raped his relative.

Under direct questioning from his attorney, Barnes denied having intercourse or oral sex during the time period from January 2019 through August 2021 when the girl earlier testified that he committed those acts.

When questioned about the incriminating evidence of a taped phone conversation with the victim’s dad during which he admitted to the acts and said he was a pedophile, Barnes testified he was scared by the dad’s pressured questioning and said what he wanted to hear in hopes that the victim’s father wouldn’t go to police.

“That is not reasonable,” Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Diane Barber told jurors during closing. “Why didn’t he just hang up the phone when he was being questioned like that?”

Barber did not cross examine any of the defense witnesses, who included Barnes’ mother and aunt, both of whom questioned the victim’s credibility and behavior.

The assistant prosecutor in closing told the jurors the girl’s testimony, along with the writings in the journal along with the recorded phone conversation, were enough evidence for conviction.

Juhasz, in his closing to jurors, said the evidence was not convincing beyound a reasonable doubt and the girl was not a reliable witness because she admitted to lying and writing half-truths and half-lies in the journal. He also said police arrested Barnes on a warrant before even hearing from the victim.

“This is not probable-cause day, this is reasonable-doubt day,” Juhasz said.

Barber countered that the girl was acting out triggered by Barnes’ abuse, while Juhasz said it could have been because she was abandoned at a young age by her mother and sent to live with a grandfather in Texas.

After the verdicts were read, Barber said she was pleased with the trial’s outcome saying the recorded phone call was key in gaining conviction. She also praised the victim for her courage and detailed testimony under three-hour questioning from both lawyers on Tuesday afternoon.