FAIRFIELD, Conn. - A lawyer climbed through a neighbor's bedroom window and stabbed him to death after being told by a family member that the man had molested his 2-year-old daughter, authorities say. Barry James, 58, was stabbed in the chest nearly a dozen times Monday. The lawyer, Jonathon Edington, 29, was charged with murder and burglary and was released on $1 million bail Wednesday. Capt. Gary MacNamara said that police had not received a complaint about the child being assaulted before the killing, and "we have no indication it's true or not true." Edington's attorney, Michael Sherman, said the information came from Edington's wife. "The daughter gave the mother information which was alarming and disturbing. The mom relayed it to her husband. That was the spark," Sherman said. James' 87-year-old mother discovered his body. When officers went to Edington's home, they found him standing by his kitchen sink with what appeared to be blood on him, and a large kitchen knife next to him on a counter, authorities said "He's in shock," Edington's attorney said. "This is the most unexpected turn of events one can imagine with this young man's background." Police had gone to the neighborhood before, when Edington called to complain that he could see James through a window, police said. "Either he was partly clothed or revealed parts of his anatomy that were inappropriate," MacNamara said. Edington, a graduate of Syracuse University and Fordham University Law School, has been practicing patent law, Sherman said. Police said Edington has no criminal record. Rita James declined to comment on her son's death. James served two days behind bars in 2001 on a drunken driving charge, according to the state Correction Department. "He had some bizarre behavior over the last month," said Darrell Maynard, a neighbor. "He drove his car through his garage, hit the other neighbor's building." Another time a neighbor found James intoxicated on the street, Maynard said. James shouted obscenities at children, he said. As for Edington, Maynard said: "Something had to happen that was terrible for this to have occurred." Edington "seemed like a computer geek or something. He was not anybody you would ever feel you were threatened by." And the problem is?
Wonder who will get more press? The possible child molestor or the homicidal lawyer? Anyone else see the two birds with one stone thing? Suspected child molestor and Lawyer both off the streets. So I guess soon it will turn out that the 'child molestor' wasn't really a child molestor, just a drunk angry guy. More off the wall comments as the story develops.
Seems the lawyer slept thru that class on "innocent until proven guilty"......or at least charged even..... "uh, no Daddy.....not THAT man.....the one on the OTHER side of us !" Opps.
Maybe so, but I have two girls. If they would have told me that someone molested them, I would cut that f*****'s head off and put it on a pike. With a dull knife..................
And the more I think about it, the stranger it is, based on the facts of the story. 59 year old guy that the lawyer has already called the cops on.....and is a known drunk among other problems. WHO the heck let's their 2 year old child anywhere near him ??? Anytime a child this age is molested, it's a babysitter or someone in the household. At 2 years old, they aren't exactly wandering around the neighborhood without an adult. Methinks there is a lot more to this story than "Old guy molests child".....maybe the child DID tell mommy somebody did something. Maybe the do'er was the same as most spouse murderers.....the 'near and dear'.
Police: Girl Wasn't Molested by Neighbor ( Or why we have a criminal investigation before the lynching.....hard to raise the dead and say "Oops....sorry 'bout that" ) http://home.bellsouth.net/s/editorial.dll?fromspage=cg/news/ne_details.htm&categoryid=&only=y&bfromind=847&eeid=5058884&_sitecat=1522&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=5&ck=&ch=ne Published: 10/19/06, 2:05 PM EDT By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - Police have concluded that a 2-year-old girl was not molested by a neighbor whom the girl's father is accused of stabbing to death in rage, a police official told The Associated Press Thursday. Jonathon Edington, a 29-year-old attorney from Fairfield, is charged with killing Barry James on Aug. 28 after his wife told him their daughter had indicated James touched her inappropriately "in the starry night," police said. Edington pleaded not guilty last week. "We're confident this 2-year-old was not molested," said Capt. Gary MacNamara. "We are confident in our investigation that Mr. Edington did in fact kill Mr. James. We are as confident in our investigation that Mr. James did not molest the Edingtons' daughter." MacNamara confirmed that investigators interviewed the girl but declined to release further details. MacNamara also would not comment on whether the girl's mother would be charged. A molestation complaint was filed against James shortly after he was killed. A telephone message left Thursday for Edington's attorney, Andrew Bowman, was not returned. "The family of Barry James is adamant that Barry James was not a child molester, would never have harmed that child," Richard Meehan, the family's attorney, said Tuesday. "We fully anticipated and expected there would be nothing to corroborate this. I believe the complaint is untrue." According to a police report describing the mother's account, the girl told her mother about the alleged molestation while the family was visiting relatives in Rhode Island. The girl "explained that she did not want to go home because of Barry," police said in the report. When her mother asked her to explain, the girl said "that Barry puts it on her belly and her nose," the report said. When her mother asked her when James does this, she replied, "He comes to me in the starry nights." Police say that after Edington's wife told him what their daughter said, Edington climbed through James' bedroom window and repeatedly stabbed him.
