Monroe Chat

Prosecution Files 'Motion To Reconsider' Judge's Decision
Report WLWT:

LEBANON, Ohio -- A man who had been convicted of drowning his wife in a bathtub last year will get a new trial.

A jury convicted Ryan Widmer of murder in the August 2008 death of Sarah Widmer, but defense attorneys said the verdict was compromised because some jurors conducted outside experiments to test evidence presented at trial and shared their findings with other jurors.

A bond hearing was scheduled for Wednesday at 1p.m. for Widmer, who is serving a 15-year to life sentence at Lebanon Correctional Institute.

Judge Neal Bronson, who presided over the two-week trial, said in a ruling issued Wednesday that juror statements showed the experiments were conducted to test the credibility of defense witness Dr. Michael Balko, who testified that many factors could influence the length of time a body would take to air dry.

"This would coincide with the conclusion that there were still jurors (at least one), who thought it reasonable that the decedent's body would be dry when the first responders got there," Bronson wrote.

Several witnesses testified that Sarah Widmer's body was dry or damp when they arrived, which jurors said cast doubt on Ryan Widmer's claims during a 911 call.

Bronson said the outside tests were discussed after many jurors had already concluded that the 911 call was staged by Widmer to conceal his role in his wife's death, but the judge said the experiments still might have played a significant role in the ultimate verdict.

"However, it begs the question as to why the issue of air drying was revisited and why three jurors, who engaged in an unorthodox shower sequence, took it upon themselves to share their experiences with the entire panel," Bronson wrote.

Defense attorneys argued that the tests violated Widmer's right to a fair trial because the jurors had improperly acted as witnesses, but their testimony was not subject to cross examination.

Bronson, who repeatedly reminded jurors throughout the trial not to consider outside findings, agreed with the defense in his ruling.

Read Judge Bronson's Order

"The court has determined that there were external matters discussed in deliberations," Bronson wrote. "The question 'is not whether, in a trial that occurred without the error, a guilty verdict would surely have been rendered, but whether the guilty verdict actually rendered in this trial was surely unattributable to the error.'"

He cited case law to back the defense assertion and ordered the jury's April 2 verdict to be thrown out.

"In applying these standards the court cannot say the guilty verdict was surely unattributable to the error," Bronson concluded. "A new trial must be granted."

Images: Ryan Widmer Verdict

The Warren County prosecutor's office filed a motion Wednesday just before 11:30 a.m. asking the judge to reconsider the decision.

"We have said from the very beginning that there was no misconduct on the part of these jurors," said Warren County Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel.

She said an appeals court ruling issued earlier this week on a case from Fayette County directly contradicted Bronson's ruling.

"If the court does not agree, we will appeal," Hutzel said.

The prosecutor said she'd spoken to Sarah Widmer's family, who have offered little comment since charges were filed, but declined to share their reaction.

"We will do whatever is in our power to make sure Ryan Widmer is brought to justice for the murder of Sarah Widmer," Hutzel said.

I have a hard time with this logic. They based it on knowledge....you can call it an experiment....but it was knowledge. So juries should have NO knowledge, in order to properly prosecute?

Someone didn't do their case law work hard enough. I would almost bet money that there is case law that goes in the other direction. One can find case law that goes in any direction. Sad thing about the court system.

How is it knowledge and not an experiment?