Racine police are investigating the death of Circuit Court Judge Dennis Barry, who was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Thursday morning. According to Racine police, Barry’s wife reported him missing, and a search turned up his car in Lincoln Park. The judge’s body was found nearby. Racine County Medical Examiner Tom Terry says Barry died of a shotgun wound to the head, his body found partially in the water of a shallow creek which flows through the park. Barry was one of Racine County’s most tenured judges, appointed to the bench in 1980 and re-elected just this spring, and was instrumental in reforming the state’s juvenile justice laws.
Janet Hoff, WRJN