By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LEBANON - As a convicted felon who had tried to kill before, Rocky Lee Barton was legally forbidden from having a gun. But he's accused of using a shotgun to kill his wife.

So Kimbirli Jo Barton's four children have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in Warren County Common Pleas Court, blaming Rocky Barton for firing the fatal blast.

The suit, filed Friday, alleges Barton's father, Donald, also is at fault for failing to keep the firearm away from Barton, who was released in February 2002 from a Kentucky prison, where he had served time for the attempted murder of a girlfriend.

"Donald Barton knew that his son was a convicted felon and was not entitled, by law, to either own or have access to any firearms. He also was aware that his son was in a failing marriage, depressed and mentally unstable," the suit says.

The suit seeks damages exceeding $50,000, plus costs of the lawsuit. Donald Barton could not be reached for comment Friday; Rocky Barton's lawyer, J. Gregory Howard, also could not be reached.

The suit, which raises public policy issues about the responsibilities of gun owners, is the latest turn in a Wayne Township case that has drawn controversy.

After his wife, 44, was shot to death on Jan. 16 in front of her 17-year-old daughter, Rocky Barton shot himself in a failed suicide attempt that disfigured his face.

As he recuperated from reconstructive surgery, the county spent $100,000 from January to May to keep Barton under 24-hour guard at a Cincinnati nursing home. Although Medicaid paid for his care, some officials questioned spending such a large sum on a man who might be executed.

Barton, now 47, has been transferred to the Warren County Jail's medical wing. He is accused of aggravated murder and a weapons violation in connection with his wife's slaying. A two-week jury trial is to begin Sept. 22.

Douglas S. Roberts, the Columbus lawyer who filed the case, said he didn't think it unusual to sue the owner of a gun used in a homicide.He noted that, in April, the Indiana Supreme Court found two gun owners negligent in the death of a police officer after their son used a hidden but accessible handgun to shoot the officer.

Anyone who leaves a weapon unsecured in his home is inviting trouble, Roberts said - but he thinks that's especially true in a case involving someone like Barton, who he said was "unstable, violent and in a deteriorating marriage."

He said the effects on Kimbirli Jo Barton's relatives remain apparent.

"The violence of this is so staggering that you're kind of speechless about it - and frankly, if you push it too hard, they just all break down and cry," Roberts said.

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com