DaytonDailyNews.com

LEBANON — Prosecutors want jurors in the Ryan Widmer bathtub drowning trial to look at what's "reasonable." The defense told the jury to look at the science Monday, March 23, during opening statements.

Widmer, 28, stands accused of drowning his young bride, Edgewood High School graduate Sarah Widmer, 24, on Aug. 11, 2008, in the bathtub of the couple's Hamilton Twp. home. If found guilty, Widmer faces life in prison.

The murder trial began Monday in front of Warren Common Pleas Judge Neal Bronson after a jury was chosen from 118 people summoned to court. Twenty didn't show up and 35 were excused because of conflicts.

Assistant Prosecutor John Arnold took the jury of six men, six women and three alternates (all women) — who were seated after less than two hours — through the sequence of events that he said led to Sarah Widmer's drowning. Oddly however, he pointed out Sarah's hair was only damp and the floor and everything else in the bathroom was dry, including her body when rescue workers arrived.

"We are going to need to look behind the door of a marriage to find out what's in there," Arnold said.

Defense attorney Charlie Rittgers, on the other hand, gave the jurors a glimpse at what Widmers' life was like before that night in August. He also denounced Warren County Coroner Dr. Russell Uptegrove for failing to look at EMT and emergency room reports before issuing his findings. If he had, Rittgers said he would have known emergency workers performed CPR and other medical intervention on Sarah Widmer for 45 minutes, actions that he says caused the bruising and contusions.

"You need to follow the science in this case," he said.

Widmer, who arrived in court with a group of eight people, maintains he is innocent and his wife, an Edgewood High School graduate, often fell asleep in odd places, like the bathtub.

The murder trial, the first in Warren County since 2007, has garnered national media attention. Crews from Dateline NBC and Court TV were in the courtroom covering the trial.

As many as 50 witnesses could take the stand to testify, but attorneys say many of the law enforcement and other witnesses are on both the defense and prosecutor's lists. It is unclear whether Widmer will take the stand, but he wasn't on either witness list.

Bronson ruled Monday that the Warren County Prosecutor's Office could not enter evidence in the trial that they said showed Widmer visited an adult porn site the weekend before his wife died, according to Matt Nolan, spokesman for the prosecutor.

The prosecution wanted the evidence admitted because they say it bolsters their theory that the couple did not have a happy, albeit brief marriage. The couple was married four months before Sarah Widmer's death.