Lawrence Barber, who practiced in Odessa for 58 years and developed a fierce reputation for battling hard for his clients in court, died Dec. 12 of COVID-19.

Barber likely contracted COVID-19 in early November from one of his criminal-defense clients, who was brought from the local jail to the Ector County Courthouse for a pretrial conference in the courtroom of 244th District Judge James Rush of Odessa. The client tested positive for the virus, and the next week, Barber was hospitalized. He died after about a month in the hospital.