LEBANON — The decision to acquit or grant Ryan Widmer a new trial is in the hands of the judge who oversaw the three trials for the convicted murderer.

Judge Neal Bronson listened to testimony and arguments from both sides Wednesday on the defense’s request to free Widmer or re-try him for the fourth time.

In testimony filled with confusion, Margaret Dean testified she was smoking marijuana with her sister when she was told a juror in the Widmer trial had made an astonishing remark to her sibling.

“Don’t worry about the Widmer case, we have all talked about it and we know he is guilty. He is going to burn in hell,” a juror known only as D.E. allegedly told Dean’s sister.

Dean said she called defense attorney Jay Clark’s office after a night of partying with her terminally ill sister during the Widmer trial in February and reported what the juror had told her sister.

But later in her testimony, Dean recanted her remarks and said wasn’t positive that’s what her sister had said about the juror.

“I thought that’s maybe what she had said,” Dean said. “Then I kept thinking about it and I couldn’t with certainty, with my hand before God, say that.”

The juror in question was not at the hearing because her father’s funeral was on Wednesday. Dean’s sister also did not testify, but she has said in court documents from the prosecution she did not make the remark about the juror to her sister.

The defense said the juror’s alleged comment and Facebook postings by her should force the judge to give Widmer a new trial.

Clark said they have discovered postings on the Facebook that show the juror was looking at pages on the social network website during the trial and had made reference to a video about a bathtub.

The jurors were warned to not discuss information related to the trial on social network websites.

Assistant Prosecutor John Arnold told Bronson the bulk of what the defense filed was inadmissible hearsay and not evidence. He said the defense failed to prove juror misconduct took place and waived its right to remove a juror during the third trial.

“This court should end the attacks on the privacy and integrity of the jury and declare that it is no longer ‘open season’ on jurors,” Arnold said in a motion.

Prosecutors also said evidence backed up the jury’s guilty verdict and it should not be thrown out.

Widmer, 30, was convicted Feb. 15 of murdering his wife, Edgewood High School grad Sarah Widmer, 24, in August 2008 at their Hamilton Twp. home. He was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison and remains at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio.

Bronson has not set a deadline when he will make his decision.