A Gaston County judge resentenced a 64-year-old man to seven to 20 years in prison for crimes committed more than four decades ago.
Lester Barnett pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery, safecracking, misdemeanor larceny, and felony assault in February 1981. He was originally sentenced to seven years to life in prison.
But a judge has now shortened his sentence to seven to 20 years. But he remains incarcerated for a separate first-degree murder conviction, for which he must first finish serving a life sentence…