Murderer says he doesn't want appeal

Rocky Barton will have a hearing to decide if he's competent to reject appeals.
MANSFIELD (AP) -- A man scheduled to be executed next month for murdering his wife in front of his uncle and stepdaughter says he will ask a judge to remove the lawyer who has been fighting to keep him alive.
Rocky Barton received the death penalty for the January 2003 shotgun slaying of his wife, Kimbirli Jo Barton, at the couple's home near Waynesville, about 35 miles northeast of Cincinnati. He has said he doesn't want to pursue any appeals, and in a death row interview Wednesday said he will ask a judge to remove Middletown lawyer Chris Pagan as his attorney.
"I don't appreciate what he's doing," said Barton, whose execution is set for July 12. "When I go back to court July the third, as the first order of business I am going to ask the judge to dismiss Mr. Pagan from my case."
Pagan said Thursday he was not surprised by Barton's statement.
"He's changed his mind before," Pagan said. "If he's competent to make that choice, that's fine."
Pagan said he has a duty to defend Barton by appealing his sentence, even if Barton is opposed, and, because of that, "We have a conflict."
Circumstances of crime
At his trial, Barton, 49, was described by prosecutors as a controlling husband who decided to kill Kimbirli, 44, when she told Barton she was leaving him. He hid a shotgun in a garage and, when his wife arrived at their home to pick up some of her belongings, Barton got the gun and shot her twice as his uncle and 17-year-old stepdaughter watched, prosecutors said.
Barton said Wednesday at the Mansfield Correctional Institution that the shooting "was a spur-of-the-moment thing," and that he had planned to kill only himself, not his wife. Instead, he shot her and then shot himself in the face.
"It was an act of anger," Barton said. "Evidently it was not too thought out, or I wouldn't be where I am today."
In Barton's mandatory appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, Pagan said Barton had a change of heart while in prison and, in a letter, had asked Pagan to pursue his appeal.
"I had told him the Supreme Court was going to hold the hearing no matter what, and after that he sent me a letter asking me to fight vigorously," Pagan said.
Now, if he has changed his mind again, "That's another thing that makes me question his competency," Pagan said.
Barton has refused to speak on his own behalf in previous hearings, including an Ohio Parole Board hearing Monday in which the board recommended that Gov. Bob Taft deny clemency.
Competency hearing
In a letter, Barton told the board that he did not want his life to be spared. But he must appear in person Monday in Warren County Common Pleas Court for a hearing to determine if he is competent to reject further appeals.
"He has no choice," said Warren County Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel. "He will be brought here from Mansfield whether he wants to or not."
In the sentencing phase of his trial, Barton urged the jury to recommend death rather than life in prison.
"My attorneys advised me to beg for my life," Barton said then. "I can't do that.
"I strongly believe in the death penalty. And for the ruthless, cold-blooded act that I committed, if I was sitting over there, I'd hold out for the death penalty."
Barton said he was not concerned about the difficulty experienced in the May 2 execution of Joseph Clark. The lethal injection was delayed about 90 minutes when staff had problems finding a viable vein, and one vein they did use collapsed.
"I got good veins," Barton said. "I understand he was a drug addict and his veins collapsed. All during my surgeries, I had good veins."