The Barton murder case began 21 years ago
What are the details of the crime?
Barton, a police officer for more than two decades, returned home April 11, 1995, to the family horse farm in Franklin Twp. to find his wife, Vickie, a nurse at Sycamore Hospital and instructor for the Kettering College of Medical Arts, dead after an apparent break-in. Barton called 911 , resulting in a recording used almost 10 years later to convict him in a trial in Warren County Common Pleas Court. He was questioned, but not arrested or charged, after he established he had been elsewhere at the time.
When did Barton get arrested?
Barton was indicted on April 9, 2004, after an investigation by a newly formed cold-case team. They built a case indicating Barton turned to a burglary-for-hire ring to scare his wife into moving to Springboro so he could become police chief. He was arrested, but posted bond three days later.
What happened at trial?
During a two-week trial in February 2005, Barton’s lawyers presented evidence and testimony suggesting a series of other scenarios and suspects in the case. The testimony of Gary Henson, a relative to William Phelps, one of the men alleged to have been involved in Vickie Barton’s rape and murder, was seen as key to the conviction. It was based on conversations Henson said he had with Phelps before Phelps committed suicide. A detective explained to the jury how analysis of the 911 recording indicated Barton revealed he planned to call Phelps about what the 6th Circuit called a“botched burglary.”
What was the sentence?
On Feb. 22, 2005, Barton was found guilty of complicity to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated burglary. On March 18, 2005, he was sentenced to 15-to-50 years in prison. He was being held in the Southeastern Correction Complex in Lancaster until Friday, when he was transferred to the Warren County Jail.
What was the focus of the appeals?
A series of lawyers has brought appeals on Barton’s behalf in local, state and federal courts.The appeals were unsuccessful, until May 15 , when a panel of judges in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals gave authorities six months to retry or release Barton.The panel found the prosecution withheld evidence and described as “somewhat fantastical”the story Henson told the jury.The court declined to rehear the appeal or to release Barton on bail, pending a final decision.
Where do things stand now?
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Barton’s warden in Lancaster. After a delay due to the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the court declined to consider the appeal in a decision announced on March 18. The case was returned to Warren County, where Barton appeared Monday for a pretrial and bond hearing.
The Dayton Daily News has been following the Barton murder case for 21 years. From the death of Vickie Barton in 1995 to her husband, former Springboro Police Lt. Jim Barton’s trial in 2005, to appeals in state and federal courts. We will continue to bring readers the latest as the case returns to Warren County.
The Dayton Daily News has been following the Barton murder case for 21 years. From the death of Vickie Barton in 1995 to her husband, former Springboro Police Lt. Jim Barton’s trial in 2005, to appeals in state and federal courts. We will continue to bring readers the latest as the case returns to Warren County.
A Warren County judge is expected to rule by Friday on whether a former Springboro police lieutenant, convicted in connection to his wife’s death, will be released from jail while awaiting a new trial.
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Jim Barton's conviction last May and he is seeking to be released on bond.
Barton was alleged to have hired those responsible for the rape and murder of his wife, Vickie Barton, in a botched burglary in 1995. He was indicted in 2004 following a cold-case investigation and convicted in 2005.
He was convicted of aggravated burglary and involuntary manslaughter. He maintained his innocence and was supported at trial by Vickie Barton’s mother.
Judge Michael Gilb said Monday he would take the issue “under advisement” and rule by Friday on Barton’s bond request.
The 6th Circuit ordered Barton retried or released within six months. The clock on that sixth-month window began running in March after the U.S. Supreme Court denied the appeal filed on behalf of the warden of the prison in Lancaster where Barton was last held.
“We are working against that schedule at this point,” Gilb said Monday.
At Monday’s hearing, a 10-day trial was scheduled to begin on Sept. 19 in Warren County Common Pleas Court.
Barton, who has served 11 years of his 15-to-50-year sentence, sat silent but attentive during the hearing.
Barton’s wife, Elaine, and supporters sat in the front row during the proceedings but declined to comment afterward. Media filled one half of the audience gallery in the courtroom.
Barton and his wife have agreed to pledge their home in Springboro as bail in order to secure his release.
In a motion filed Friday, Barton’s lawyer, Christopher Pagan, also suggested the court set bond at $55,000 - the amount set before his trial in 2005.
Since his conviction, Barton has hired a series of lawyers to file appeals to overturn the case and win his freedom.
“These substantial investments indicate a commitment to the case, and a portend against flight,” Pagan, the lawyer who also handled the federal court appeals, said in the motion.
But prosecutors opposed bond for Barton and said, if granted, it should be set at $1 million. They noted Barton was convicted by a jury, has since spent 11 years in prison and could be returned there as reasons he is more likely to flee, if released on bail.
During the hearing, Assistant County Prosecutor John Arnold questioned whether the Bartons owned property in Warren County. Property records list a home in Springboro in Elaine Barton’s name.
Arnold argued in a motion opposing bond that the state conviction should stand during the six months the 6th Circuit gave Warren County to retry or release Barton.
For a decade, the conviction withstood appeals until the ruling by the 6th Circuit.
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