Woman convicted of abusing adopted children seeks parole

A woman convicted of abusing her two adopted Ethiopian children has asked the court to grant her parole.

Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning will hold a hearing on the request by Kristen Barbour on Tuesday. She is serving six to 12 months’ incarceration with work release to be able to care during the day for her two biological children.

Filed by defense attorney Robert E. Stewart, the motion asks the court to release Barbour immediately because she has already fulfilled her minimum sentence.

The request came on the heels of a motion seeking the woman’s release to home electronic monitoring in December, which was rejected by Judge Manning this month.

In his opinion denying that request, Judge Manning discounted the defense argument that Barbour has been following the rules of work release and shows no evidence of reoffending.

“She should not be rewarded for simply doing what is required of her,” he wrote.

But Judge Manning also defended the sentence he imposed on Barbour, which he said received unfair criticism in the public.

“In this country, we do not

sentence, we do not punish, we do not imprison people on the basis of accusation and suspicions. We require proof of crime beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Judge Manning called Barbour’s penalty “harsh” because it was in the standard range of the guidelines, instead of below them, even though she had no prior record and pleaded to the charges.

He also noted that it was the prosecution that dismissed the more serious charges against Barbour and her husband, Douglas Barbour.

The Barbours were accused of abusing a boy and a girl, then ages 5 and 1, they adopted in March 2012.

In September 2012, both children were hospitalized. The boy was found to be malnourished, while the girl suffered a brain injury, and also had a broken leg and toe that had gone untreated.

Kristen Barbour, 33, pleaded no contest to two felony counts, and Douglas Barbour, 35, pleaded to two misdemeanor counts and was ordered to serve five years’ probation. Their parental rights were terminated, and the children have now been adopted into a new family.