Judge Michael Gilb sentenced Barton to 12 years in prison, but placed him on probation for the remaining time.
Barton entered an “Alford plea” to aggravated burglary and involuntary manslaughter as part of an agreement with prosecutors.
An Alford plea is a guilty plea in which the defendant doesn’t admit to the criminal acts and asserts his innocence. Barton has always maintained his innocence, but indicated during the hearing that he agreed to the plea, rather than risk a longer sentence during a retrial scheduled to begin in November.
County Prosecutor David Fornshell said he agreed to the plea and sentence primarily due to changes in sentencing laws that limited the chance that Barton could have served additional time if convicted again.
“This was really the primary factor,” he said.
In addition, Fornshell said he was concerned about how Gilb would rule on evidence used in the 2005 trial and that Barton’s plea indicated he recognized there was sufficient evidence to convict him.
“That’s not something I believe that would have occurred if we had gone to trial,” he said during a press conference.
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