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Thread: Walter E. Barton - Missouri Execution - May 19, 2020

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    Walter E. Barton - Missouri Execution - May 19, 2020




    Summary of Offense:

    Barton was convicted of fatally stabbing 81-year-old Gladys Kuehler in October 1991 in her trailer after going to her home to ask to borrow $20. Kuehler was stabbed 52 times and sexually assaulted. This is the fifth time Barton has been tried for the murder. Two mistrials were declared, while the other three trials resulted in death sentences. During the penalty phase, the state presented evidence of Barton criminal history which involved many violent crimes against women.

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    December 19, 2007

    Court upholds death sentence after man's fifth murder trial

    After five trial attempts, prosecutors have finally - but narrowly - succeeded in getting a death sentence that has been upheld for a convicted murderer from southwest Missouri.

    In a 4-3 decision Tuesday, the state Supreme Court upheld the conviction and death sentence for Walter Barton in the 1991 slaying of a mobile home park manager in Ozark.

    The victim, 81-year-old Gladys Kuehler, was stabbed more than 50 times, beaten and sexually assaulted, according to court records.

    Barton was charged with first-degree murder. The first attempt to prosecute him ended in a mistrial in 1993 after his attorney objected that prosecutors had failed to endorse any trial witnesses.

    Later that same year, a new jury deadlocked on whether Barton was guilty and the judge again declared a mistrial.

    Barton was tried again in 1994, convicted of murder and sentenced to death. But the state Supreme Court overturned the conviction, citing objections to the prosecutor's final arguments at trial.

    Barton again was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1998. The state Supreme Court initially upheld that conviction. But a circuit court judge subsequently found that the prosecution had failed to disclose the full background of one of its witnesses, among other improprieties, and again ordered a new trial.

    At his fifth trial, held last year, Barton was again convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

    He raised 15 points in his latest appeal to the Supreme Court, including that there was insufficient evidence to convict him and that he should have been spared from a fifth trial by the constitutional protection against double jeopardy because of the prosecutorial misconduct at his fourth trial.

    Writing for the majority, Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. said Barton's evidence of guilt was more than sufficient.

    Limbaugh noted that, under a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision, retrials can be prohibited when a prosecutor deliberately engages in misconduct for the purpose of goading a defense attorney into seeking a mistrial and thus averting a potential not-guilty verdict. But Limbaugh said that does not appear to be what occurred in Barton's fourth trial.

    Joining Limbaugh in the majority were judges William Ray Price Jr. and Mary Russell and Circuit Judge David Evans, who heard the case because of a vacancy that existed at the time.

    In a dissent, Judge Michael Wolff suggested that even if the evidence were strong enough to support a conviction, it may not have been enough to warrant the death penalty. He also said Barton deserved a hearing on whether the prosecutor in his fourth trial did intentionally engage in misconduct to try to get a mistrial.

    Wolff concluded that he could not image “why the court would approve the death sentence on this sorry record” in Barton's case.

    Joining Wolff's dissent were Chief Justice Laura Denvir Stith and Judge Richard Teitelman.

    (Source: The Associated Press)

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Inmate Personal Information

    DOB: 01/24/56
    Race: White
    Gender: Male

    Crime and Trial Information

    * County of conviction: Christian
    * Number of counts: One
    * Race of Victim: White
    * Gender of Victim: Female
    * Date of crime: 10/09/1991
    * Date of Sentencing: 06/28/1994

    Legal Status

    Current Proceedings:
    Rule 29.15 PCR
    Filed: 04/11/2008

    Attorney

    Gary Brotherton

    Court Opinions

    State v. Barton, 936 S.W.2d 781 (Mo. banc 1996) (remanding for new trial); State v. Barton, 998 S.W.2d 19 (Mo. banc 1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1121 (2000); Barton v. State, 76 S.W.3d 280 (Mo. banc 2002) (reversing denial of post‐conviction relief); State v. Barton, 240 S.W.3d 693 (Mo. banc 2007), cert. denied, 129 S.Ct. 79 (2008)

    Legal Issues

    On direct apeal:
    1. whether retrial was barred on double jeopardy grounds
    2. whether death penalty was disproportionate

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Death penalty upheld in 1991 murder case

    By Bob Priddy
    missourinet.com

    The state Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of a southwest Missouri man who has been tried five times for murder.

    The Court has rejected the claim by prison inmate Walter Barton that his lawyer did a poor job when Barton was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering an 81-year old woman in Ozark 23 years ago. The woman, Gladys Kuehler, was stabbed 52 times.

    Barton’s first two trials ended in mistrials. His first two convictions ended in reversals–the first by the state Supreme Court, the second by a circuit judge. Today’s ruling is the second time the state Supreme Court has upheld his 2006 conviction. It also upheld his conviction in 2007.

    Barton does not appear close to execution. His can still make appeals through the federal courts.

    http://www.missourinet.com/2014/05/1...1-murder-case/
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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On July 1, 2014, Barton filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/mis...cv08001/116347

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    25 Years Later, Ozark Murder Case Back Before Supreme Court

    Walter Barton appeals his third death sentence

    JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gladys Kuehler was viciously murdered in her trailer home in Ozark, Missouri on an October afternoon in 1991. The man who has been convicted three times for her death, is back before the state Supreme Court this week with another appeal.

    In his latest appeal to avoid the death penalty, Walter Barton, now 60, claims he was abandoned by his public defender after his 2006 conviction. It was the third time a Missouri jury found him guilty of the grisly murder of his former landlady.

    The case comes before the state Supreme Court Tuesday, where judges will hear arguments from Barton's lawyers and state prosecutors.

    This latest appeal is only the latest twist along a lengthy path Barton's case has taken since he was first found guilty of the grisly death of his former landlady. Barton is now among the inmates who have been on Missouri's death row the longest.

    Now Barton is appealing claiming he was abandoned by his attorney during the post-conviction appeal process, effectively denying him his constitutional right to due process.

    Case history

    Over the 25 year history of the case, Barton has been granted several changes of venue. There have been two mistrials, a trial and conviction followed by a reversal and remand by the Missouri Supreme Court, and a second trial ending in conviction which was upheld by the Supreme Court but later thrown out by a lower court. Barton's fifth and latest trial was held in Cass County, where the jury also found him guilty and recommended the death penalty. Barton appealed, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the conviction and sentence again.

    (Source: State v. Barton, 936 S.W.2d 781 (Mo. banc 1996) (remanding for new trial); State v. Barton, 998 S.W.2d 19 (Mo. banc 1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1121 (2000); Barton v. State, 76 S.W.3d 280 (Mo. banc 2002) (reversing denial of post‐conviction relief); State v. Barton, 240 S.W.3d 693 (Mo. banc 2007), cert. denied, 129 S.Ct. 79 (2008))

    The crime

    Gladys Kuehler, 81, managed the Riverview Mobile Home Park in Ozark, Missouri in October, 1991. Her trailer was a busy place, with family, friends, tenants and business partners making a constant stream of visits most days.

    It was the same on October 9. According to testimony in all four of Barton's trials, Kuehler had visits from Carol Horton, one tenant of the park, who often helped Kuehler with errands and chores because she was limited to moving around with a cane. Also visiting the day of the murder were Bill and Dorothy Pickering, the owners of the trailer park, who came by to pick up rent receipts. And Walter Barton was also in and out of Kuehler's trailer that day, stopping by to ask to borrow money.

    Kuehler was last seen about 2:45 by Ted and Sharon Bartlett, former residents of the trailer park who stopped by to visit Kuehler.

    Family and friends made several attempts to reach Kuehler after 3:00 p.m., but could not get an answer on the phone or at the door. About 7:30 p.m., Kuehler's granddaughter, Debra Selvidge and Horton flagged down an Ozark police office, who called a locksmith to open the door to Kuehler's trailer.

    Selvidge and Horton, went inside, followed by Barton. Selvidge found Kuehler’s body in the bedroom. Kuehler’s partially nude body lay on the floor between the bed and the wall. She had been brutally attacked with a knife. Her throat was slit, she had been stabbed more than 50 times, including 23 times in the back and there were also two X-shaped slash wounds to the abdomen.

    Barton was almost immediately a suspect after small blood stains were found on his clothes and DNA testing determined one of the stains was Kuehler's blood. Barton argued it must have gotten on his clothes when they discovered the body.

    Barton also admitted he answered the phone in Kuehler's trailer about 3:15 when the owner of the trailer park called for her.

    http://www.ozarksfirst.com/news/25-y...-supreme-court

  7. #7
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    The Federal District Court denied relief on April 9, 2018.

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPD...20Petition.pdf

    It looks like the Eighth Circuit denied Barton's appeal on December 21, 2018 and denied rehearing on March 20, 2019.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/19-5570.html
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

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    Senior Member Frequent Poster Fact's Avatar
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    His cert petition violates the Supreme Court's rules for font

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Duchardt sounds like a very fake name.
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    So I'm guessing he'll be next in 2020?

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