Yes, he won't plead guilty at the urging of his attorney, so the attorney can bill the state for more hours.

unbelievable...This state forces women, who are in hiding for fear of their own lives or their children's, to give their address to the very person they are hiding from! why didn't the judge just give him a loaded gun..drive him there and pull the trigger for him..he might as well have..it's basically what happened.now the children are orphaned. and will spend the rest of their lives reliving that horror..That judge might as well have murdered her himself!

mrclam, why do you say his attorney will be billing the state? it's the prosecuting attorneys who work for the state, and they're on salary.

Richard or should I say "Dick" should be put away for life!!! I am a former co-worker of Rhonda's and I still can't believe this has happened to her life. I can't believe this would even take 3 to 4 days of trials; if he admitted it - which he did - then there should be no question! Rhonda's family should be allowed to speak publicly to "DICK" - we owe them that much; and then put him away! He is obviously a nut case and does not deserve any kind of fair treatment; he didnt show poor Rhonda any!! Jacob and Matthew are the ones that are suffering here - not "DICK"!!!

Sad story. Just another typical jealous, insecure Maine redneck killing probably his first girlfriend he ever had. What do you want to bet this guy doesn't get the max if he's found guilty?? Weak Maine DA's.

anne of mdi when criminals ask for a court appointed attorney our tax dollars and the states money is paying for that attorney. they bill the state for the hours they have worked on the case and the our tax dollars pay him learn the system...

anne_of_mdi, i agree with mrclam, you dont think this WEED is going to hire his own lawyer do you? no, he will probably get a court appointed one and who do you think foots the bill for that? us taxpayers!

Actually an attorney has to do so many free hours pro bono. No charge to anyone.

Greens04952: I do not believe your information is correct. There is no requirement for any attorney licensed in the State of Maine to perform any number of pro bono hours. There are programs such as Pine Tree Legal and Volunteer Lawyers Project which ask area attorneys to accept pro bono cases but no requirement that they accept any. A court appointed attorney for a criminal defendant based on his/her indigence will be paid for out of the State coffers.

To mrclam and others - yes, Mr. Barnett will be paid for providing indigent defense by the State. This indigent defense is required by both the US and Maine constitutions, and if you or a family member were charged with a crime, you would want an attorney as well, even if you could not afford one. For doing this work, attornies are paid a whopping $50.00 an hour by the State, the same as when doing child protective work. Even that bill is subject to approval by the Justice and the Court Administrator, both of whom are very parsimonious and frequently cut submitted bills. Since a lawyer's built in overhead expenses, before salaries, is in the $70 to $90 per hour range in most offices, Mr. Barnett probably is donating some of his own money for all the hours that a homicide trial chews up as he still has to pay the difference between the State's meager pay and his overhead. And do not forget that the State's attornies are paid handsome salaries for trying the same case and do not have to worry about office overhead as you and I pay the taxes that foot their bill. Plus, the State has all those investigatory tools, i.e. police and detectives anpersonal investigators, also all on salary and not approved by the court as an expenditure. I believe that Mr. Barnett is doing substantial pro bono work here, as do most lawyers in Maine. By the way, PineTree Legal, etc, lawyers are also on salary, often with money from taxes or grants that originate in the lawyers' annual licensing fees. To Valerie1 - the facts of what happened in the court hearing are not as you believe. No Maine judge would ever require a victim to reveal her residence to the alleged abuser. The hearing in question was not a Family Division custodial matter, but a child protection hearing, as has been reported previously. It is my understanding that the victim did not fear her attacker and insisted on revealing her address. I believe that the judge tried to convince her not to do so.

Please do not blame the judge for this crime. Judges jobs are tough enough in ways you can only imagine, so this judge does not deserve your hysterical accusations. All of us would do well to remember that each of us is innocent until proven guilty. Even if the defendant confesses, the appointed lawyer must ensure that the trial is fair. That is what protects our society from either anarchy or despotism.

I do blame the judge that required her to have to reveal her current address on the custody hearing. If more Maine judges realized the dangers of spousal abuse and the need for these women to get protection things would change. A lot of people ask why a woman stays with an abusive man. This is the reason. When my daughter was going through similar situation the judge lectured her on how parents need to get along for the sake of the kids. This was irrelavent to the fact that she was being abused. And by the way her then husband admitted to threatening to take her children and she would never see them again but the judge let him have access to the children anyway because "I said it but didn't mean it" Thank God he didn't do anything but that is not the case in so many situations. I know that judges have a hard job but part of their job is to protect people and he put this woman in a position that turned deadly. If her husband didn't know where she was he couldn't have killed her that is a simple fact!!!!!! So that judge that made her reveal her address does share responsibility for her death.!!!!!!