Janice Morse reports:
A Warren County court has denied Ryan Widmer’s attempt to secure a fourth trial, shifting the focus of his continuing legal battle to an appeals court.
Widmer, now 31, was convicted last February of murder in the 2008 drowning of his wife, Sarah, 24, in their Hamilton Township bathtub. It was his third trial, following two mistrials.
On Tuesday, the county Common Pleas Court denied Widmer’s motion for a new trial, the county prosecutor’s office said in a news release.
Widmer’s appeal of his conviction is still pending with the Ohio 12th District Court of Appeals in Middletown.
In its ruling Tuesday, the county court also refused to order genetic testing on any usable DNA from Sarah Widmer. Widmer’s lawyers were seeking those tests because they wanted to see whether Sarah Widmer may have suffered from a genetic condition that can cause a heart-rhythm disturbance. They argue that such an undetected medical problem may have contributed to her drowning.
Widmer has protested his innocence in post-conviction interviews, but did not testify during his trials.
Prosecutors have contended there was sufficient evidence to support Widmer’s conviction, and that the evidence included marks on her head and neck areas that were suggestive of force.
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