BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON — Deborah Lee Barton said she didn't mean to hurt her fiance when she tossed a handful of flaming toilet paper toward him as he slept, a police detective testified Monday.
Rather, Detective James Cifuentes said, the woman “wanted to get his attention, as to him abusing her.”
Detective Cifuentes testified in Hamilton Municipal Court that Ms. Barton, 37, said her fiance, Michael Todd Schorr, 29, had beaten her on Nov. 20. Later that day, a fire destroyed the boarding room they had shared for three days in the 1400 block of Dixie Highway.
Ms. Barton was nowhere to be found at the time of the fire, Mr. Schorr said. He was not seriously hurt.
When authorities tracked her down at a Second Street address on Dec. 8, Detective Cifuentes said, Ms. Barton told him that she was “knocked down, thrown around the apartment and beaten” on the day of the fire. Ms. Barton, who displayed a healing bruise on her elbow during an interview with the detective, also told him she and Mr. Schorr had been drinking beer throughout the day and had argued about Mr. Schorr's alleged drug use.
Ms. Barton is charged with aggravated arson and attempted aggravated murder.
Judge John G. Rosmarin found probable cause that Ms. Barton committed the offenses and sent the case to a Butler County grand jury.
Ms. Barton remains in the county jail in lieu of $25,000 bond.
Under questioning by defense attorney J. Gregory Howard, Mr. Schorr said he had gone to the jail to visit Ms. Barton Saturday and had not broken their engagement. Mr. Schorr, who works as temporary help for a number of area companies, said he and Ms. Barton had been dating for about a year and a half.
Neither Mr. Howard nor Acting City Prosecutor Richard Koehler questioned Mr. Schorr about the alleged abuse. But Mr. Schorr denied he and Ms. Barton had an argument or fight about his alleged drug use on the day of the fire.
The fire destroyed the boarding room, the damage estimated at $12,000.
Mr. Schorr testified he suffered heat blisters on his left foot but requested no medical attention.
He said he awoke around 10:30 p.m. because he felt his feet burning. He saw flames at the foot of the box springs he was sleeping on and tried to extinguish them with blankets, then with a bucket of water and a bathtub hose.
“By then, the fire was so big and there was so much smoke, I had to get out,” he testified.
A passer-by spotted the fire and saw Mr. Schorr standing in his underwear and used a cellular phone to report the blaze, authorities said.
Fire investigator Clifford MacBurney said Ms. Barton admitted she used a cigarette lighter to set the toilet paper on fire. The lighter was confiscated as evidence.
