Hello,
The trial of 23 year old Angela Barker, accused of deliberately setting fire
to the room, and probably the actual mattress, where her helpless baby twin
daughters burned to death, began yesterday.
Our aspiring nominee for Mommy Of The Year Award stands accused of HATING
both of her twin baby daughters, and deliberately murdering them by setting
their bedroom on fire, as they both lay helpless in their cribs, and then
fleeing from the house.
In opening statements yesterday, prosecutors painted a damning portrait of
Angela, as possessing NONE of the maternal instincts that you humans like to
believe exist in all mothers. Angela allegedly set the fire DIRECTLY on and in
the mattress that one of her helpless babies was lying on. That baby burned to
death at the scene. Her twin sister, in the same room, also suffered severe
burns, and died the next day, after a few hours of painful agony. The evidence
rules out any accidental causes for this fire, it was deliberately set by
Angela.
When Angela first learned she was pregnant, she insisted on aborting the
twins. Only when her husband ORDERED her not to have the abortion, did she
agree to carry the twins to term. Later, while on a vacation with her husband,
she told him that she wanted to SELL the two baby twins for $30,000 to $40,000
each. Telling her hubby, "If we did that, we could afford to take vacations
more often". Later, after a domestic dispute with hubby, Angela proudly
declared that "I will kill those babies before you will ever get them".
There ya go, the maternal instinct at work. And don't tell me that this
sounds like post partum depression syndrome. Angela expressed HATRED for her
offspring, while pregnant, during the course of the pregnancy, and after the
twins were born. At the hospital, right after giving birth, Angela told a
close friend that she hated the very fact that she had given birth.
On the night before she set the fatal fire, Angela went into the garage and
spraypainted the words "Dead Babies" on both cars, and also on the back of the
house. I think she tried to make it look like some outsider was targeting
their family, and had set the fatal fire, but her attempts to do this were
very clumsy and ineffectual.
The trial continues, probably for at least this entire week. it looks to me
like the evidence is very strong against Angela.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of the 11/4/97 online edition of The
Springfield Journal Register newspaper:
Prosecution opens case in twins murder trial
Paints picture of woman who hated her babies
By CHRIS DETTRO
STAFF WRITER
Angela Barker, on trial in Sangamon County Circuit Court for allegedly setting
a fire that killed her two babies, made no attempt to save the twin girls from
the blaze and had previously made statements about selling or killing her
daughters, prosecutors said Monday.
Defense attorneys said the evidence will show that Barker, 23, was a loving
mother who called 911 promptly and directed firefighters to her children's
blazing bedroom.
"These little babies were not her burden," said Springfield defense attorney
Kathryn Saltmarsh in her opening remarks. "Their death caused in her life a
great loss."
Earlier, assistant state's attorney Jay Magnuson described the fire scene at
1209 E. South St. on May 8, 1995, describing how "an oven was created" in the
twins' 11 1/2-by-10-foot bedroom. He said evidence will show the fire started
in Marquell Barker's polyfoam mattress, totally consuming it and killing the
baby. The mattress of the other twin, Marques, was partially burned, and she
died early the next day at Memorial Medical Center.
He said evidence will rule out all other possible causes for the fire,
including a faulty night-light, ceiling fan, baby monitor or other possible
electrical malfunction.
Saltmarsh, who along with Springfield attorney Michael Metnick is representing
Barker, said testimony will show investigators failed to preserve evidence at
the scene. Nor did they submit items such as a vaporizer or the night-light
for proper testing, or attempt to determine any possible fuel sources for the
fire, she said.
"The defendant's behavior before, during and after this incident lends credence
to the state's case," Magnuson said.
He said the state will present testimony that when Barker first learned she was
pregnant, she insisted she obtain an abortion, but her husband, Marcus Barker,
refused.
Later, on a getaway with her husband, she allegedly talked about selling the
babies for $30,000 to $40,000 apiece.
"Then we could do this more often," she allegedly told Marcus Barker.
Her husband also is expected to testify that she spoke about killing the twins
after a domestic disturbance, saying she would "kill those babies before
you'll ever get them."
Prosecutors Magnuson and State's Attorney Patrick Kelley also said they will
present as a witness a close friend of Angela Barker who will testify that
Barker told her at the hospital that she hated the fact she had given birth.
Prosecution witnesses Monday included three firefighters and three neighbors
who had been at the scene of the 7:50 p.m. fire.
Barker told investigators at the scene that her husband came home between 7 and
7:30 p.m. and asked if he could go drink another beer or two with a friend.
Angela Barker agreed, then laid down in the master bedroom and napped. She
told police she was awakened by a dog barking, then the sound of breaking
glass.
She told them she went to the back door, then to the twins' room, and when she
opened the door, flames greeted her.
She told police her portable phone, which was only a few feet from the bedroom,
hadn't been working properly, so she went to a neighbor's house to call for
help.
Elsie Fry, the neighbor, testified that Barker indeed knocked on her door and
asked to use the phone.
Fry said Barker kept repeating over and over again, "My house is on fire and my
children are in the house" while waving her arms. Fry said she had to remind
Barker to tell the 911 operator the address.
Testimony from Springfield police officer William Marshall differed from that
of two sisters who were neighbors of the Barkers.
The sisters each testified that they did not see Angela Barker attempt to enter
the house either before or after firefighters arrived. They said they saw her
run toward Marcus Barker when he arrived home and started running up to the
house.
Marshall, who was the first police officer at the scene, said he tried to calm
Angela Barker down and she started screaming. He said she tried to go back
into the house "at least twice."
Springfield police detective Amos Mitchell testified about his investigation of
the fire scene and how he found a cigarette lighter in a tin underneath the
television set.
He also told how he found a can of blue spray paint on the kitchen table the
night of the fire and two cans of white spray paint in a closet near the
twins' bedroom on May 18.
On May 30, he said, Marcus Barker brought into the police station a pair of
women's tennis shoes with what proved to be blue paint splatters on them.
On the night before the fire, Angela Barker had left the house and come back in
to tell her husband someone had spray-painted their two cars in the driveway.
According to prosecutors, no one could read what was written on the cars
except for Angela Barker, who told her husband and his friend the message said
"Dead Twins."
Prosecutors allege Angela Barker wrote that message, as well as another "Dead
Twins" message in white paint along the back of the house.
Under cross-examination by Metnick, Mitchell acknowledged the shoes appeared on
a videotape taken of the house the night of the fire, but that no investigator
had taken them as evidence. The cigarette lighter wasn't taken as evidence
until 10 days after the fire.
Mitchell also acknowledged under questioning from Metnick that the right tennis
shoe had what appeared to be a blue paint spot on the inside on the shoe, on
the sole. He said he had never noticed the spot until the defense pointed it
out Monday.
Cross-examination of Mitchell will resume at 9 a.m. today before Circuit Judge Leo Zappa.
