Lawyer Gets 12 years in Mistaken Slaying

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Bridgeport, Connecticut-- 30 year old Jonathon Edington, a patent attorney, flew into a rage after being told by his wife that she believed their neighbor, Barry James, 58, had sexually violated their 2 year old daughter. Breaking into his bedroom by cutting through a window screen, he stabbed the man 11 times, killing him. He was caught by officers cleaning the victim's blood off his arms in a kitchen sink.

"It's a Shakespearean tragedy brought into the real world, Judge Richard Comerford said. Something was set into motion in this man's mind -- real or perceived. It was very real to him."

A subsequent investigation found no evidence of any molestation as claimed by Edington's wife, Christina. Prosecutors said she had been diagnosed by defense psychiatrists as suffering from postpartum depression. She had refused to cooperate with the investigation, never making any official sworn statements.

Edington's attorneys asked for a sentence of 5-8 years arguing their defendant was not "in his right mind" when he committed the murder. "He is a good and decent man who suffered such a traumatic event in his life that he lost control, argued his attorney Andrew Bowman."

The family of the victim had hoped for the maximum sentence would be meted:
"Many lives have been destroyed here," said Charlene Benoit, James' sister. "Twelve years is not nearly enough. I think it's a terrible injustice for my brother." "We will never be the same." the victim's mother, Rita James, who had witnessed the deadly slaying, said in the victims' statement. "A terrible tragedy has happened for nothing, but it has destroyed all that we have," they wrote.

Both Jonathon and Christiana Edington have been served with wrongful death suits by the family of the victim. Christina is being accused of triggering the murder by fabricating the abuse story.