Bail set at $350K for ex-cop with overturned conviction

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

A southwest Ohio judge has set bail for a former suburban police official who asked to be released after a federal appeals court overturned his 2005 conviction in his wife’s death during a botched burglary.

Court records show a Warren County judge set bail at $350,000 Thursday for former Springboro Police Lt. Thomas “Jim” Barton. The 60-year-old Barton remained in the county jail late Thursday afternoon.

The judge had heard arguments Monday and scheduled a new trial for Barton for Sept. 19.

Prosecutors said Barton hired men to stage a burglary to scare his wife, Vickie, into moving from their rural home to Springboro, near Dayton, to improve his chances of becoming police chief.

A federal appeals court overturned his convictions for complicity to involuntary manslaughter and to aggravated burglary.