Jurors, who have deliberated for a total of 13 hours, went home at 6:30 p.m. Thursday and will resume at 9 a.m. today.
The Widmers say they are anxious for a verdict. Gay Widmer thought the jury should have reached a decision Wednesday, after a little more than four hours of deliberations. Her brother, Gary Widmer, said the jury surely would have rendered a decision by Thursday.
“I guess being in there for the two-and-a-half weeks we were in there, it wasn’t hard to come to a conclusion,” he said “Mind you he’s my son, but it’s still not hard to come to a conclusion regardless of what they need to go over.”
Added his sister, “What in the world could take them so long?”
The first trial lasted nine days; this is the end of the third week of the retrial.
Jurors deliberated for 23 hours in Ryan Widmer’s first trial, finding him guilty of murder, for which he was sentenced to prison for 15 years to life. That verdict was overturned because of jury misconduct after jurors conducted air drying experiments at home and discussed it during deliberations.
Sarah Widmer, 24, drowned in the bathtub of their Hamilton Twp. home on Aug. 11, 2008. The drowning scene was virtually dry when first responders arrived.
Warren County Coroner Dr. Russell Uptegrove, who found bruising on her body during the autopsy, determined her death was a homicide. The defense claims she suffered a medical emergency before she drowned and the bruising is due to aggressive efforts to revive her.
In the first trial, the jury deliberated until midnight the first day they got the case and ultimately made their decision 23 hours later at around 8:30 p.m. April 2, 2009.
The Widmers were grateful that the jury of seven women and five men and now two alternates decided not to make it a marathon session Thursday.
“I am glad of that, I do feel that’s much better than what we went through last year when we were here until midnight,” he said. “Last year was crazy.”
The jury panel is minus one alternate juror who was released last week because her grandfather died.
Widmer’s family and supporters who also attended the trial last year, eyed dark clouds rolling in around 4:15 p.m Thursday with superstition. A torrential downpour was the back drop for the guilty verdict last year.
“It’s ironic,” one woman said.
Last year, Ryan Widmer and many of his supporters stood in the parking lot at the courthouse with SUV doors open to provide some privacy. This time they went off campus altogether, until just before the jury was set to be excused for the day. His dad said he just needed some space.
“He just wanted a little seclusion, a little privacy that’s what they wanted to do,” he said. “They did not want to be here.”
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