2002 July 19 News Article – Child Killer’s new jail term 100 years
WEBSITE AUTHOR NOTES: As referenced in Barton’s lifetime sentencing article dated August 12, 1999, due to sentencing guidelines, Barton had to face the same judge who had sentenced him. Barton only received notice of this “resentencing hearing” a week before it was to take place with Barton being visited by his former attorney Tracy Smith. Barton by now had determined that his court appointed attorney did not represent him well, so decided he would rather represent himself then be represented by defense attorney Tracy Smith. So fired him during the course of the hearing for everyone to see. He then was able to get the judge to agree to postpone the resentencing hearing so that Barton could better prepare and bring forth a lone witness, personal friend Chuck Nicholson. In the future we hope to make both 2002 resentencing hearing transcripts available but suffice it to say, despite Barton not being an attorney, after being in jail for now almost four years, he did a darn good job representing himself. But alas the same judge that threw the book at Barton ordering a lifetime prison sentence was not pleased and cited yet again the heinous nature of Barton having sexually molested his daughter despite there being no physical evidence to support such an accusation, sentenced Barton again to the maximum: 100 years, or a “death-by-prison” sentence. Versus a more lenient range of 20 to 80 years that might have afforded Barton a prospect of becoming free again when he was an ailing and frail man. Under “other items of potential interest” you will see that during Barton’s 2002 resentencing hearing, that Barton railed against the system that unjustly convicted him, despite all of the overwhelming evidence that pointed to Misook instead, and told the Judge, Prosecutors and anyone else in the courtroom that day, that because McLean County got it wrong, he made the bold prediction that Misook would kill again, adding that the victim would likely be a woman or a child. 13 years later Barton’s prediction came true. The only remaining question is as Misook Nowlin arrived to this country in 1989, and met Barton during the summer of 1995, is who else might have been murdered at her capable hands? Misook’s whereabouts from the time Barton was convicted until her return to Bloomington shortly before Linda Wenlan Tyda was murdered, that spanned until 2011, is also a time period in which equal or even more sinister crimes could have taken place.
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