LAWRENCEVILLE - A judge is deciding whether evidence in the alleged slaying of an Augusta woman 16 years ago should be allowed in the trial of Barton Corbin, a Dacula dentist accused of killing his wife.
Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Michael Clark is weighing similarities in the deaths of Corbins 33-year-old wife, Jennifer, on Dec. 4, 2004, and his former girlfriend, 27-year-old Dorothy ``Dolly'' Hearn on June 6, 1990. Corbin faces murder charges in Richmond County and Gwinnett County.
His Gwinnett trial is scheduled for April 17. Clark did not say when he would make a decision, but seemed troubled by the lapse in time between the two deaths. Another pretrial hearing is scheduled for April 7.
During a hearing Friday, prosecutors set out to prove Jennifer Corbin and Hearn were killed in the same manner by the same man. Defense attorneys argued that the two women committed suicide.
Both women died in their homes from a single gunshot wound to the head. Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said there is evidence Corbin harassed both women as their relationships began to crumble. He said Corbin knew how to kill his wife and stage it to look like a suicide on Dec. 4, 2004, because he had done the same thing to Dolly Hearn in 1990.
He said evidence would put Barton Corbin near the scene of the crimes when they occurred.
Bruce Harvey argued that data on suicides in Georgia shows women committing suicide by firearm is not uncommon. A national study revealed 121 women shot themselves in Georgia the same year Dolly Hearn died and 1,262 Georgia women committed suicide by firearm the year of Jennifer Corbins death, Harvey said.
``To say any method used in this case is unique such that it is a signature crime by any particular individual is just wrong,'' Harvey said.
Defense attorneys also discussed a series of e-mails between Jennifer Corbin and a woman whom she befriended in an Internet chat room for the online game Everquest.
The e-mails reveal the emotionally tumultuous life she had been living prior to her death. Jennifer Corbin wrote that she had fallen in love with someone representing herself as a man named ``Christopher,'' but that person later revealed she was a woman. The discovery was devastating to Jennifer, defense attorneys said.
What began as an innocuous friendship evolved into ``an incredibly sexual relationship online'' with sometimes pornographic e-mail content, Harvey said. Jennifer Corbin felt betrayed when she discovered that she had been communicating with a woman all along, the e-mails show.
In an e-mail shortly after that discovery on Nov. 19, she wrote, ``I cant live this lie and its killing me. I cant sleep and I can barely keep from breaking down.'' In another letter in late November, she wrote ``you have absolutely ripped my heart out.''
``Now what we have is a truly devastating emotional break in the life of Jennifer Corbin,'' Harvey told the judge, pointing to a possible motive for suicide.
Barton Corbin found out about his wifes online affair and thought she had a lover. He discovered she had a separate telephone number and credit card account and then filed for divorce, Harvey said.
The father, mother and two sisters of Jennifer Corbin sat next to Hearns parents in the courtroom, who traveled from Augusta to attend the hearing.
Heather Tierney, Jennifer Corbins sister, who also has temporary custody of her two sons, was comforted by her father as she cried and dabbed her eyes with a tissue.
Barton Corbin, who appeared in court wearing a dark suit and a yellow shirt and tie, seemed calm during the arguments. He nodded to acknowledge his family before walking swiftly out of the courtroom.
Monday
May 5th, 2025
11:37PM
