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Widmer trial juror: 911 call orchestrated

Juror also said sleep disorder expert’s testimony crucial.

2nd juror in Widmer bathtub murder case influenced by ‘experiments’

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By Denise G. Callahan, Staff Writer Updated 5:38 PM Thursday, April 9, 2009

A jury member in the Ryan Widmer murder trial says the 911 call and a sleep disorder expert’s testimony influenced the jury’s decision to convict.

Widmer, 28, was found guilty Thursday, April 2, in Warren County Common Pleas Court of murdering his 24-year-old bride Sarah Widmer in their home in Hamilton Twp. last August.

The jury deliberated for 22 hours over two days after hearing testimony for eight days, starting March 23.

Widmer was sentenced to 15 years to life, the mandatory sentence. He won’t be eligible for parole until he is 43 years old.

Not only did the Widmer family maintain his innocence — many people writing letters and voicing opinions on blogs were shocked by the jury verdict.

Professor Mark Godsey, who heads the Ohio Innocence Project, which operates out of the University of Cincinnati College of Law, said the outcome was probably incorrect.

“My personal opinion is I’m troubled by the verdict. I didn’t think there was enough evidence to convict,” he said.

“The coroner’s testimony, if you study this phenomenon historically, is not as reliable and if the jury puts some weight on it ... It’s very difficult to convict someone solely on that scientific conjecture.”

It wasn’t all science that swayed the jury, said juror Ray Diss of Hamilton Twp.

He said the jury was meticulous in its examination of the evidence and while they were deadlocked at times, and people switched their positions a couple times, in the end they all agreed Widmer drowned his wife Sarah Widmer earlier and orchestrated the 911 call.

“We had a stop watch and broke down that 911 call minute by minute,” he said.

Diss said the jury believed Sarah Widmer may have fallen asleep in the tub and Widmer shoved her head under water and held it there.

The sleep disorder specialist from Ohio State, who testified for the prosecution that a person would wake up if their head fell under water, played a big part in the jury’s decision.

“The sleep disorder lady, she was great,” he said.

While they felt confident in their decision, the emotional ending of the trial was tough, Diss said.

“I think nearly all the jurors had tears in their eyes,” he said. “All the jurors were upset, naturally. But we all felt we did the right thing.”

Defense attorney Charlie Rittgers said while he wouldn’t change anything major in how he presented his case, he had a major hurdle to clear.

“The state, in order to find someone guilty of any crime, has to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. I don’t believe that they proved their case,” he said.

“What I think happened was — because we have a young lady who was seemingly healthy — I think the jurors expected me to prove Ryan’s innocence as opposed to making the state prove that he was guilty.”

Warren County Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel said some people felt the jury had to be deadlocked — there aren’t any deliberations in recent Warren County case history that have lasted this long — after it took them so long to reach a verdict.

If they had returned too quickly, Hutzel said they would have been criticized as rushing to judgement. She said the jury did a good job.

“I think they spent a great deal of time and they were very analytical in the way they approached this case,” she said. “They were very thorough. It’s clear from the juror’s description of how they approached this. They were absolutely not deadlocked, they were simply being extremely careful. It should reassure everyone this was an open-minded, fair process.”

The packed courtroom first applauded when Judge Neal Bronson read the jury had found Widmer not guilty of aggravated murder. The elation quickly turned to agony as Bronson announced Widmer was guilty of murder, meaning the jury felt he didn’t plan it.

The scores of friends and family members in court for the verdict flooded out of the room in tears after Widmer was removed in handcuffs. Paula Kohtz, a friend of Jill Widmer, Ryan’s mother, was in court for the duration of the nine-day trial, said she received a brief call from her friend at around midnight, thanking her for her support, “She said I’m so worried about Ryan, and then click.”

Kohtz said she is very concerned about her friend and Widmer and she can’t believe the jury found him guilty.

“It’s just is so frightening, I don’t even want to live in this county anymore. It just frightens me that this could happen,” she said. “I know he didn’t do it. I just talked to him yesterday (during the trial), he was a frightened little kid, sitting in the back of an SUV missing his wife.”

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