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First pretrial in Seman case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Trial dates may be set shortly after a pretrial conference in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for a man accused of killing a 10-year-old girl he is accused of raping and her grandparents in a March 30 arson.
Robert Seman, 46, of West Calla Road in Green, could face the death penalty if convicted of aggravated murder in the deaths of Corinne Gump, 10, and her grandparents, William and Judith Schmidt, during a fire at the Schmidts’ Powers Way home on the South Side.
The brief pretrial Wednesday was heard before Judge Maureen Sweeney, where Seman’s attorneys, Tom Zena and Lynn Maro, asked the judge to delay setting a trial date until they can go through a second set of discovery materials that prosecutors made available to them this week.
Maro said she and Zena need to go through that material so they can determine how long it will take them to prepare a defense for their client.
Zena said among those materials are 39 DVDs that must be gone through, some with documents attached.
Judge Sweeney agreed with their request.
Seman faces 10 counts of aggravated murder, all with death-penalty specifications, as well as additional charges of aggravated burglary and aggravated arson.
He is accused of raping the girl and was on house arrest after posting $200,000 bond. The fire was started the day jury selection in his case was to begin. His bond was immediately revoked that day because prosecutors told Judge Sweeney that Seman’s ex-wife told police Seman had offered her money if she would tell prosecutors during the trial the girl made up the allegations.
Seman would face life in prison if he is convicted of just the rapes. Those charges are still pending.
An additional two counts of bribery were added as well, and the aggravated murder and other charges were issued June 11, after lab reports from the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation found the fire at the Schmidts’ home was an arson.
Attorneys also met in chambers with Judge Sweeney and went over lists of expert witnesses the defense may call to testify as well as mitigation experts should Seman be found guilty of death-penalty specifications.
If that happens, a second phase of the trial, or mitigation phase, will take place at which defense attorneys will present evidence to jurors showing them why they must spare Seman’s life.
Seman is eligible for the death penalty because, among other factors, he is charged with killing the witness to a crime, and with killing someone in the commission of another felony, in this case the aggravated burglary or aggravated arson.