Oops. Neighbor Slain by Lawyer

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FAIRFIELD, Connecticut (AP) -- Police have concluded that a 2-year-old girl was not molested by a neighbor whom the girl's father is accused of stabbing to death in rage, a police official said Thursday.

 

Jonathon Edington, a 29-year-old attorney from Fairfield, is charged with killing Barry James on August 28 after his wife told him their daughter had indicated James touched her inappropriately "in the starry night," police said.

 

Edington pleaded not guilty last week. (Full story)

 

"We're confident this 2-year-old was not molested," said Capt. Gary MacNamara. "We are confident in our investigation that Mr. Edington did in fact kill Mr. James. We are as confident in our investigation that Mr. James did not molest the Edingtons' daughter."

 

MacNamara confirmed that investigators interviewed the girl but declined to release further details.

 

MacNamara also would not comment on whether the girl's mother would be charged. A molestation complaint was filed against James shortly after he was killed.

 

A telephone message left Thursday for Edington's attorney, Andrew Bowman, was not returned.

 

"The family of Barry James is adamant that Barry James was not a child molester, would never have harmed that child," Richard Meehan, the family's attorney, said Tuesday. "We fully anticipated and expected there would be nothing to corroborate this. I believe the complaint is untrue."

 

According to a police report describing the mother's account, the girl told her mother about the alleged molestation while the family was visiting relatives in Rhode Island.

 

The girl "explained that she did not want to go home because of Barry," police said in the report. When her mother asked her to explain, the girl said "that Barry puts it on her belly and her nose," the report said. When her mother asked her when James does this, she replied, "He comes to me in the starry nights."

 

Police say that after Edington's wife told him what their daughter said, Edington climbed through James' bedroom window and repeatedly stabbed him.

 

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