Ryan Widmer's mugshot, taken Feb. 15, 2011
A judge has set a date for a hearing on two motions in the Ryan Widmer murder case.
Warren County Common Pleas Court Judge Neal Bronson scheduled a hearing for 4 p.m. March 23 to hear defense motions for acquittal and a new trial.
Defense attorneys filed a motion on March 4 to free Widmer alleging there is insufficient evidence to support his Feb. 15 conviction on a murder charge.
The defense also filed a motion for a new trial last week because they say a “biased” juror was allowed to remain on the panel that convicted him.
Prosecutors have until March 18 to respond.
After standing trial three times, Widmer, 30, was convicted of murder Feb. 15 in the 2008 drowning of his wife, Sarah, 24. The Mason man was sentenced to a mandatory prison term of 15 years to life.
In a detailed, 17-page document, Widmer’s lawyers say that prosecutors never presented any theory “not contradicted by other evidence” to show how Sarah Widmer was forcibly drowned.
“There is no way reasonable minds of reasonable people could reach the conclusions reached by this jury,” they argue. “Facts do not cease to exist simply because the prosecution wants to ignore them.”
If the judge refuses to acquit Widmer, Widmer’s lawyers are asking Bronson to instead order a new trial – which would be Widmer’s fourth – based on alleged jurors’ misunderstanding and misapplication of legal standards and alleged juror misconduct.
Attorneys cite a juror’s post-verdict comment to WKRC-TV, Channel 12: “It’s just the evidence, to us, did not prove innocence.”
That comment shows the jury “was misdirected…where at least one juror was waiting for Ryan to prove his innocence,” Gutierrez said in the court document.
Bronson instructed jurors that the burden of proof lie with prosecutors and that Widmer, like all defendants, must be presumed innocent.
Widmer’s lawyers also say the court abused its discretion by failing to remove one of the jurors after she allegedly told her best friend on the second day of the trial: “Don’t worry about the Widmer case. We have all talked about it and we know he is guilty. He is going to burn in hell.”
“It is clear…her mind was made up on Ryan’s guilt before hearing the evidence,” Widmer’s lawyers say.
Widmer’s first trial ended in 2009 with a conviction, but the guilty verdict was set aside because of jury misconduct after it was revealed that three jurors did at-home drying experiments and reported their results during deliberations. The second trial ended with a hung jury.
Cincinnati attorney Mark Krumbein says the defense’s motion for acquittal is “probably one of the most thorough motions for acquittal I’ve seen in my career. It laid out every problem the prosecution had.”
Still, he thinks it is unlikely the judge will agree to such a decision.
“Judge Bronson is a very well respected judge and he is known for conducting error-free trials,” said Krumbein. “The odds of him throwing out jury’s guilty finding are close to zero.
But, he adds, “this case is so full of unusual twists and turns, you couldn’t rule it out.”
Staff reporter Janice Morse contributed to this story
Posted in: Crime, News, Widmer Trial |
Tags: Tags: bathtub murder, conviction, drowning, hamilton township, judge neal bronson, juror misconduct, mason, murder, ryan widmer, sarah widmer, trial, warren county common pleas court
