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Widmer attorney files appeal, wants 4th trial

Ryan Widmer is serving 15 years to life for drowning his wife.

Photos: Widmer's 3 murder trials

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By Denise G. Callahan, Staff Writer Updated 12:20 PM Sunday, February 5, 2012

\MIDDLETOWN — An attorney for Ryan Widmer is taking a second shot at getting a fourth trial in Warren County.

Attorney Michele Berry-Godsey filed a second notice of appeal this week. She’s asking the 12th District Court of Appeals to overrule Warren County Common Pleas Judge Neal Bronson’s ruling on her petition for post-conviction relief, genetic testing and a fourth trial.

Widmer already has an appeal pending before the 12th District Court, asking the judges there to throw out his conviction and grant him a new trial.

“I’m going to request that the appellate court consolidate the two appeals so that when we eventually have an oral argument, we can address all the claims at the same time,” she said.

Widmer is serving 15 years to life for drowning his wife, Sarah Widmer, in the bathtub of their Hamilton Twp. home in August 2008. Bronson declared a mistrial after the first guilty verdict in 2009 due to juror misconduct. The second jury was hung in 2010. After 12 hours of deliberations a year ago, a jury returned a guilty verdict.

Berry-Godsey last fall asked Bronson to toss the guilty verdict for a variety of reasons. In an 18-page ruling, Bronson rejected claims that the jury should have heard testimony about lead detective Jeff Braley’s questionable employment history. Berry also asserted ineffective assistance of counsel in the original appeal filed last year, as well as improper expert testimony regarding fingerprints on the tub and erroneous jury instructions.

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