Two-Fisted Dad -- or Wingnut Psycho??

We report, you decide:

Report describes molestation claim that allegedly led to killing
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By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN
Associated Press Writer

September 12, 2006, 4:14 PM EDT

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- The 2-year-old daughter of a Fairfield lawyer charged with stabbing his neighbor to death two weeks ago had told her mother that the man molested her "in the starry nights," according to a police report released Tuesday.

Police said the lawyer, Jonathon Edington, climbed through 58-year-old Barry James' bedroom window and fatally stabbed him on Aug. 28, after his wife told him what his daughter had said.

Edington, 29, appeared Tuesday in Bridgeport Superior Court facing murder and burglary charges, holding his wife's hand throughout the proceedings. He is free on $1 million bond but was ordered to have no contact with James' relatives, who live in the house where James was killed.

According to the police report, 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, quoting a relative.

"She described to her mother by pointing to her groin area with two fingers and stating that 'Barry is this."' 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 are investigating the molestation claim.

Peter Ambrose, an attorney for James, issued a statement on behalf of James' family disputing the allegations.

"The family of Barry James stand together in defending the unfounded allegations of molestation," the statement said. "They are vicious and hurtful, and the family only wishes that their son and brother had the opportunity to defend himself. When all of the facts are made known, we are confident that Barry will be cleared of these allegations."

James' 87-year-old mother discovered his body. When police officers went to Edington's home a short time later, they found him standing by his kitchen sink with blood on his hands and forearms, authorities said. Officers said a large kitchen knife was found in James' bedroom.

James had just retrieved his mail and returned to his bedroom when Edington broke through the bedroom window screen, climbed over the bed and attacked him, police said.

The victim's mother, Rita James, heard the commotion but is legally blind, according to the police report.

After the stabbing, Edington called his sister-in-law and told her his neighbor was hurt and that he had called police, according to the report.

"She stated she heard police in the background ordering Jonathon to put his hands up," the report states.

Edington and his attorney, Andrew Bowman, declined comment after the hearing. A probable cause hearing was scheduled for Oct. 10.

Edington, a graduate of Syracuse University and Fordham University Law School, has been practicing patent law.

In 1998, Edington was charged with disorderly conduct and second-degree harassment in connection with an anti-abortion protest while he was a college student in New York. Edington pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and paid a $100 fine, while the harassment charged was dismissed, court officials said.

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This article originally appeared at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct--neighborstabbing0912sep12,0,5991513.story?coll=ny-region-apconnecticut

(Emphasis added.)

Well, this raises questions:

How long was this going one? Why was is not reported to the authorities until two days after the alleged perp was killed? One would like to think that a Connecticut patent lawyer knows enough to report stuff like this to the authorities....

Again, how does a two year old come to say stuff like this?

And has anything attributed to the child been heard by any impartial, objective person -- or is it all coming secondhand from "interested parties?

Exactly under what circumstances did the girl and the alleged perp come into contact, let alone such contact than the alleged events could occur?

This all stinks.... Am I the only one that thinks it makes no sense other than the part about one man killing another man? (I mean, just about the only clear thing is that one man is dead.)