Video evidence is 'smoking gun' against Bartons, expert says

State Attorney's Office releases undercover video from drug investigation

MACCLENNY, Fla. – Undercover video in the Baker County drug case against Lonna Barton and Chris Barton reveals the hours and minutes before the two were arrested in September.

The Bartons, the parents of missing toddler Lonzie Barton, were arrested with Shawn Clayton Hall in Baker County after authorities said the three sold the synthetic drug Molly to an undercover officer in Macclenny.

Hall was found dead Oct. 30 at his grandmother's house, less than a week after he bonded out of jail.

Chris Barton, 41, remains in jail in Baker County on the drug charges. Lonna Barton, 25, is in the Duval County jail, where she and her boyfriend, Ruben Ebron, are charged with child neglect and lying to police in the July 24 disappearance of Lonzie.

The arrest report in the drug case against the Bartons said a confidential informant was told that Lonna and Chris Barton used syringes to inject themselves with Molly, also known as MDMA or Ecstasy, and they encouraged the informant to do the same. 

WATCH: Undercover video from Baker County Sheriff's Office 
(NOTE: Audio removed because of excessive profane language)

According to the arrest report, Baker County officials arrested the Bartons and Hall after Chris Barton sold Molly to undercover detectives three times in two days -- once across from Glen Church of Christ in Glen St. Mary and again at the Motel 6 on State Road 121. Baker County officials said Hall and the couple had been under surveillance for about a month.

One of the videos recorded by the confidential informant includes about 20 minutes of footage of Lonna Barton, Chris Barton, Hall (pictured) and the confidential informant inside a room at the Motel 6. The recordings were released Tuesday as discovery material by the State Attorney's Office.

Attorney Gene Nichols, who is not associated with the case, said that recording someone without their consent is not usually admissible evidence in the state of Florida. He said that rule doesn't apply in this case.

"If the individual is working on behalf of law enforcement, that individual does have rights to videotape, to audiotape. That is what we have here," Nichols said.

He called the video a "smoking gun" and said the defense will likely try to prevent it from being shown to a jury, but prosecutors should be able to show the video in court.

In the video, Lonna Barton can be seen sitting on a bed attempting to inject herself in the arm with a syringe. She says in the video that she is having trouble injecting herself because she has to go through scar tissue to get to the vein. 

REPORT: Christopher Barton, Lonna Lauramore Barton, Shawn Hall arrest report

"There's a knot. I got a knot, feel it," Lonna Barton says. "Feel my arm, rub it. Rub it out. Press down. Feel it with my arm flat. You feel that? That's why it's not doing it. I'll just do it in this arm."

She asks the confidential informant to hold her arm while she tries to inject herself.

Later in the video, Lonna Barton appears to inject Chris Barton in the neck with the same syringe.

"That is what was wrong with it, it's clogged," Lonna Barton says.

Chris Barton, Lonna Barton and Hall then get ready to leave the hotel room to buy drugs, but the informant says he wants to stay back to try to calm down from some drugs that he had taken previously. At that point, Lonna Barton makes a comment about calming down.

"Well, when he died, you know how they told me to slow my heart rate down? Like how to calm yourself or whatever? Start at like 60 and just start counting backwards," Lonna Barton says. "Close your eyes while you're doing it. Kinda like sit back in the chair, kinda with your eyes closed. It really will slow your heart rate down; you are thinking about something else."

The Bartons and Hall leave the hotel room, and when the three return, Chris Barton hands a small bag with white powder inside to the informant, but the informant expresses concern that it isn't the right amount. Chris Barton says more is on the way. The informant appears nervous and even leaves the room to call investigators from the front desk.

"Hey, y'all need to come in now," he says to detectives. "He gave a little bit, but I've got a bad feeling something is fixing to happen to me. I got a bad feeling something is fixing to go down with me, because he's sharpening knives and everything."

Nichols said that even though the video was recorded in a hotel, case law says that because it was a drug transaction, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy from the recording by someone acting on behalf of law enforcement.

"If you were going into a hotel room for a business transaction and a quick one, such as the buying and selling of drugs, an individual does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy to keep the government from recording what you are doing or saying in that room," Nichols said.

According to officials, Hall and Chris Barton were later picked up after leaving the hotel in a vehicle that was headed down Interstate 10, and police found and arrested Lonna Barton at the hotel.

The couple was arrested hours after appearing in a Duval County courtroom, where they each asked for custody of their 5-year-old daughter.

Lonna Barton's arrest came as she was out on bond on charges of child neglect and lying to police in connection with the disappearance of Lonzie. Her bond on those charges was later revoked.

Baker County Sheriff Joey Dobson said the Bartons' arrests were in no way related to the disappearance of their son, who has never been found. 

The State Attorney's Office said more recordings related to the case are being redacted and should be available sometime next week.