Widmer Timeline
Aug. 11, 2008: Ryan Widmer calls 911 and reports his wife, Sarah Widmer, fell asleep and drowned.
Aug. 13, 2008: Ryan Widmer, 28, of Hamilton Twp. is charged with the murder of his wife.
Nov. 12, 2008: Nov. 17 trial date is rescheduled.
March 23: Widmer’s trial begins in Warren County Common Pleas court.
April 2: After a two-week trial, jury finds Widmer guilty and he is sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
April 9: Following a Western Star interview with juror Ray Diss, defense attorney Charlie Rittgers files a motion for an aquittal or new trial. He maintains jurors improperly relied on information that was not in evidence.
April 10: Another juror, Jon Campbell, says several jurors improperly conducted experiments at home to see how long it took them to air dry after bathing.
April 22: Warren County Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel’s office files a response to the motion for a new trial.
July 22: Judge Neal Bronson grants Ryan Widmer a new trial, ruling that experimenting jurors violated Widmer’s right to a fair trial. Bond for Widmer’s release is set at $1 million.
After three months of appeals by the defense, a Warren County judge ruled Wednesday, July 22, convicted bathtub killer Ryan Widmer deserves a new trial and set bond at $1 million.
Widmer, 28, was convicted in April of drowning his wife Sarah Widmer in the bathtub of their Hamilton Twp. home last summer. Bond was set during a closed hearing in front of Warren County Common Pleas Judge Neal Bronson.
Since the conviction was voided, Widmer will be brought back to the Warren County Jail from the Warren Correctional Institution, where he has been since Bronson sentenced him to 15 years to life.
Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel asked Bronson to reconsider his decision, and after being told he wouldn’t, she said she will file an appeal.
It looks doubtful the family can post the bond. In fact, because of the high cost of conducting a second trial, the family may choose to find out the outcome of the promised appeal by Hutzel before paying a bail bondsman the typical 10 percent fee or $100,000.
Jill Widmer said the cost of the trial had eaten nearly all of her retirement fund.
“But the financial toll doesn’t compare to the emotional toll it’s taken on me and Ryan,” Jill Widmer said.
The crux of the case was that the drowning scene was virtually dry when first responders arrived to find Sarah Widmer dead. After several jurors announced they “experimented” at home during deliberations to see how long it took for them to air dry after bathing, the defense requested an acquittal or a new trial.
“The court has determined that there were external matters discussed in deliberations,” Bronson wrote in his decision. “These matters constitute a violation of a sixth amendment right and of due process.”
Bronson in his decision detailed several times how the jurors said they believed the 911 call Widmer made was staged, but he concluded the at-home drying experiments several jurors performed were critical to the guilty verdict.
“The court can only speculate, but it seems as if the prior conclusion or conclusions were used in reaching the next conclusion,” Bronson wrote. “Under that assumption, an early conclusion based upon improper external evidence may well improperly impact a later conclusion.”
A couple hours after Bronson issued his decision, Hutzel filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider his decision based on a recent decision by the 12th District Court of Appeals involving jury misconduct. Bronson ruled during a closed-door bond hearing, he would not reconsider and Hutzel said she will appeal to a higher court.
“I think based of what the court of appeals already said, just two days ago, we have a very good likelihood there will be no new trial,” Hutzel said. “If there is a new trial, we’ll try it. We’re going to do whatever it takes to bring Ryan Widmer to justice for the murder of Sarah.”
Widmer’s mother Jill said she spoke with her son after Bronson made his decision and he told her he was very excited and feels “the weight of the world has been lifted off his shoulders.” Widmer is in the Warren Correctional Institution serving 15 years to life.
He will be brought back to the Warren County Jail pending the prosecutor’s appeal and to await his new trial. Sheriff Larry Sims said for security reasons he is not allowed to divulge when the transport will take place. Widmer will wear a GPS device if he is released.
Jill said she is feeling the best she has felt in a year and was grateful to Bronson.
“From the very beginning, before the trial even started I felt Judge Bronson was a very fair man,” she said. “I just want to thank him so much that he came to the right decision for Ryan.”
Rittgers said he couldn’t be more pleased for his client and he trusts Widmer will be vindicated in the new trial.
“This is one of the happiest days of my life,” he said, “behind my marriage and birth of my children. I’m a happy guy.”
The retrial is virtually unprecedented in Warren County. Hutzel said in her 16 years with the county there hasn’t been a murder retrial. Court Administrator Scott McVey said he can’t remember there ever being a retrial in the county.
Mark Godsey, who will handle the appeal for Widmer, said they will likely ask Bronson to reduce the $1 million bond he set. When Widmer was charged with aggravated murder last summer, his bond originally was set at $1 million and later reduced to $400,000. Jill Widmer put up her Mason home to secure the bond.
Legal experts say a new trial for Widmer likely won’t be déjá vu all over again. Rittgers won’t be first chairing the proceedings.
“I think the case should have new eyes, meaning someone else should look at this and maybe do something differently,” he said. “And, because I believe strongly my client is innocent, I personally could not handle losing the case a second time. It would be too much to bear.”
Widmer’s mother said they had chosen Hal Arenstein and Jay Clark to represent Widmer in a second trial after interviewing about 20 attorneys.
Jill Widmer said her son wants to tell his story.
Thaddeus Hoffmeister, assistant professor at the University of Dayton School of Law, said since the first jury put such stock in the 911 call Widmer made, he’d put him on the stand so the jury could put the call and Widmer in person in context.
“I don’t know how you get that across, absent him taking the stand, and showing them that’s how he reacts, that’s his tone of voice, that’s what he does,” he said.
Jill Widmer said she was “flabbergasted” the jury honed in on the 911 tape.
“I guess because I’m Ryan’s mother, when I listened to that 911 tape I just hear a very frightened young man,” she said. “And I think he’s very distressed... For them to have focused on that 911 call, I think he was very distraught. The 911 operator got up there and said he sounded very calm, but on the tape he said ‘calm down I can’t understand you.’”
Given that jurors went home and tested how long it takes to dry, Hoffmeister said the defense better also find an expert in air drying.
As for a change of venue? Hutzel said she doesn’t think one is necessary. Hoffmeister said the defense might want to keep the case in Warren County because public opinion favored Widmer. Allen said as long as jurors can tell the judge they can make a decision based on the evidence and the law, it doesn’t matter if they have heard or read about this much publicized case.
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