Ryan Widmer Trial: Day 2
9:15 a.m.: Potential jurors are sitting around the lobby of the courthouse while Judge Neal Bronson attends to a couple other cases. If a jury can’t be seated using this group, potential jurors who were on stand-by yesterday have been instructed to call the court by mid-morning to see if they must return. After the jury is selected they will go on field trip to view the Widmer house on Crested Owl Court in Hamilton Twp.
9:30 a.m.: The prosecutors dismissed the potential juror who is the office manager at a Dayton commercial litigation law firm. A female juror has replaced him in the jury box. She says she has heard about the case. First Assistant Prosecutor John Arnold questions her about circumstantial evidence and motives. He also asks her if she agrees no one can always know everything that goes on inside someone else’s marriage. She is a surgical technologist. She has had no contact with police officers. She has performed CPR on someone seven years ago and the person died from a heart attack. She said she didn’t even get on any electronic media last night, as the prospective jurors were instructed by the judge. She tells attorneys here daughter fell asleep in a bathtub ad she screamed her name and pulled her out of the tub. She wasn’t under water. She agrees with Arnold that it made a mess in the bathtub. Arnold asks if the state proves its case if she would have a problem finding Widmer guilty. She said no and wouldn’t be swayed by public opinion. She has never done an intubation herself but has seen when there are problems with it. The defense claims all the wounds the coroner found on Sarah Widmer were caused by heroic efforts to revive her, including five intubation attempts.
Defense attorney Jay Clark questions the potential juror. Clark asks about the mess after she pulled her daughter from the tub. He said if the water was drained, there would be less mess. She said it depends on conditions in the house. She agrees there would be less mess if tub drained. Clark asked her if she expects a motive. She said she expects the state might speculate one. Clark asks her about signing a not guilty verdict when one jury has already found him guilty. She said she is comfortable finding him not guilty if the facts bear that out.
10:05 a.m.: The defense excuses the juror who said Monday the defense had to prove Widmer’s innocence.
11 a.m.: Several potential jurors excused for various reasons.
11:50 a.m. There are 33 potential jurors in the room, 12 in the jury box and the rest in the gallery. Each side has two challenges left.
12:15 p.m. Prosecution excuses potential juror who had a bad experience with the highway patrol.
1:45 p.m. Potential jurors are back from lunch. The judge said just prior to dismissing them that the attorneys were less optimistic than he that the selection process will move quickly this afternoon. Next potential juror said she hasn’t heard about the case prior to being called. She was a paramedic for seven years but let her certification lapse. She said administering CPR is very stressful. She has permed CPR on a drowning victim. What they did 11 years ago may not be the same protocol now – she agrees things may have changed. She has testified before in a preliminary hearing in a case. She listed on her questionnaire that her mother suffers seizures from a head injury. The defense maintains Sarah Widmer may have suffered a medical emergency just prior to drowning. Clark asks if this woman would have a problem finding Widmer guilty after the first jury convicted him.
“I have to live with what I believe to be the truth,” she said.
She has also intubated patients, and seen teeth broken and lips cut during the process. She agrees with Clark that seizures can occur when no known cause is discovered. Clark asks if she would have worn gloves while doing chest compressions, she said yes and also agreed the sensation of feeling something wet would be different. First responders in the last trial said Sarah Widmer’s body was not overly wet and her hair was wet when they arrived. Some said the carpet she lay on was dry also, however, the bag from the crime lab that contained the carpet swatch was stained.
2:30 p.m.: Another juror is dismissed by the defense.
LEBANON — Despite worries extreme publicity may ruin Ryan Widmer’s chances of finding a fair and impartial jury, a panel of 12 jurors was sworn in Tuesday, May 11.
After two full days in court and a juror hardship day last week, seven women and five men and three alternates were selected. Originally, 100 Warren County residents were summoned to court and only seven people were left in the gallery when three alternates were chosen. Both sides ran out of challenges.
The panel includes a former paramedic, a statistical expert, a corrections worker, an engineer and a college student, among others.
Jury selection began on Monday in the retrial of Widmer, who was convicted last year of drowning his wife Sarah Widmer in the bathtub of their Hamilton Twp. home in August 2008. After juror misconduct was unveiled following the first trial, Judge Neal Bronson ordered a retrial.
Potential jury members were peppered with questions from the defense and the prosecution during the selection process. First Assistant Prosecutor John Arnold placed heavy emphasis in his questioning on how much potential jurors knew about the case before they came to court.
The defense took advantage of information from the first trial in its questioning. Widmer’s attorneys continually asked prospective jurors questions about Widmer’s demeanor as he watches the trial and if they could find a not guilty verdict even though a guilty verdict was found in the first trial.
Widmer, 29, is accused of killing his wife in their Crested Owl Court home on Aug. 11, 2008. The site of the drowning will be visited by the jury early today, May 12.
Jurors found Widmer guilty of murder on April 2, 2009, after two weeks of testimony and almost 23 hours of deliberations. After an avalanche of motions, Bronson threw out the guilty finding and ordered a new trial after three jurors admitted they conducted “drying experiments” at home during deliberations. The crux of the case was the drowning scene was virtually dry when first responders arrived.
Both sides will then give opening statements and the prosecution will start laying out its case. Last year, the prosecutors started with the 911 call and the dispatcher, Ron Kronenberger, who answered it.
Widmer faces 15 years to life if convicted.
Widmer’s mother Jill Widmer has been forced to sit on a couch in the courthouse lobby during the proceedings because she is expected to testify. Widmer’s father Gary and brother have been in court along with a handful of relatives and supporters. No one has been in court for Sarah Widmer yet.
Thaddeus Hoffmeister, a jury expert and professor at the University of Dayton Law School, who has followed proceedings closely, said he thinks prosecutors ought to be concerned.
“These jurors are in a difficult situation because they, like the rest of us, were present for the media coverage surrounding the last trial and now they have the difficult task of putting that aside and hearing all the facts of the case anew without any preconceived notions,” Hoffmeister said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4525 or dcallahan@coxohio.com.
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