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	Parents of Sex Abuse Victim Sue By Annmarie Timmins Concord Monitor November 14, 2007 http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071114/NEWS01/711140419/1043/NEWS01 A former church leader charged in January with sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl at his home has pleaded guilty to some of the charges. The girl's parents, meanwhile, are suing the man for abusing their daughter. Peter Barton, 51, of Concord, pleaded guilty Nov. 5 to four counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault for assaulting the girl over a six-month period. As part of the plea agreement, the Merrimack County Attorney's Office dropped four other sexual assault charges involving the same girl. Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Philip Mangones sentenced Barton to a total of 15 to 40 years in the state prison. If he hadn't pleaded guilty, Barton would have gone to trial yesterday. When he was arrested in January, Barton was a leader with the New Life Fellowship Church in Concord, but the abuse did not happen at the church or relate to his role as a church leader. Barton resigned his role immediately after his arrest. Barton could not be reached for comment yesterday. Prosecutor George Waldron, who handled the case, said Barton apologized to the girl and to his family at his sentencing hearing in Merrimack County Superior Court last week. Barton's wife learned of the abuse when she walked in on Barton with the girl, according to court records. She called the police. With the criminal case against Barton resolved, the civil lawsuit brought by the parents of his victim, who his now 9, will move forward. In that case, the parents have accused Barton of assault and battery, sexual abuse, infliction of emotional abuse, false imprisonment and invasion of privacy against their daughter. They have asked the court to award them and the girl the maximum damages allowed. The civil lawsuit reiterates much of what was alleged in the criminal case: After Barton was arrested, the victim told the police that he had been sexually assaulting her for months. Sometimes Barton and the girl were alone, the court records said. Other times, Barton's wife was home, either in the shower or sleeping, the records said. When Barton's wife caught him with the girl in January, Barton asked her to "forgive him and not ruin his life," according to court records. The parents, who filed their lawsuit a month after Barton's arrest, won a $500,000 attachment against the Bartons' home on Currier Road. That home has since been sold and the Bartons have divorced, according to a court record. Peter Barton's share of the proceeds, $53,000, would be subject to the attachment, according to the court files. The civil case was put on hold in September for six months to allow the criminal case to conclude. The court is scheduled to take up the lawsuit again in March. A conviction in a criminal case can be considered in a civil case, which has a lower burden of proof.
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