Abandoning Natalia trials, Round 1: Not guilty

Jury sides with Michael Barnett on charges that he and his ex-wife abandoned their adopted daughter in Lafayette, headed to Canada with rest of the family. Next up: Kristine Barnett’s trial in 2023

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MICHAEL BARNETT: ‘IT’S FINALLY OVER’

Nearly three years after Michael Barnett was charged, along with his ex-wife, Kristine, in a case that inspired international headlines and an upcoming limited series on Hulu, a Tippecanoe County jury said he was not guilty on four counts of neglect of a dependent after depositing their adopted daughter, Natalia, in a Lafayette apartment and moving the rest of the family to Canada.

Michael Barnett left the courtroom sobbing, supported by family members, after the jury reached a verdict in a little more than two hours at the end of a four-day trial.

Michael Barnett, center, weeps as he leaves a Tippecanoe County courtroom Thursday, following a not guilty verdict in his neglect of a dependent trial. (Photo: Dave Bangert)

“It’s finally over,” Barnett wept, as he filed toward the courthouse’s vintage elevator.

Natalia Barnett sat in the front row of the courtroom gallery when the verdict was read.

Looking shaken, the Ukrainian orphan living with a severe form of dwarfism called diastrophic dysplasia almost immediately left the courtroom without a word.