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Prosecutors: We can proceed without victim in Seman case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Prosecutors said Friday they still can proceed with the rape case against Robert Seman even though the 10-year-old accuser was killed in a fire just hours before jury selection in his trial was to begin.
Seman’s attorney filed a motion Friday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court asking Judge Maureen Sweeney to dismiss the rape counts against Seman, 46, of West Calla Road in Green Township, because “there is no prior sworn testimony subject to cross-examination” and because prosecutors have nothing to support claims that they still can prosecute the case without the accuser, Corinne Gump.
Corinne and her grandparents, William and Judith Schmidt, were killed when a fire broke out at the Schmidts’ Powers Way home early March 30, just hours before trial in the rape case was to begin. Seman’s bond was revoked that day, and he has been in the county jail since then. He also was indicted on charges that he tried to bribe a witness in that trial – the girl’s mother – before the trial was set to begin.
The maximum penalty on the rape charges is life in prison.
Judge Sweeney had a brief pretrial hearing on both cases Friday.
A cause of the fire still has not been determined. Detectives served a search warrant at Seman’s home and seized several items shortly after the fire, but they have not said if they believe he is responsible for the fire or if the fire is suspicious. Several samples were sent to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation to determine if accelerants were used to start the blaze.
Assistant Prosecutor Dawn Cantalamessa said there is plenty of evidence they can still use in the rape case that qualify as exceptions to the hearsay rule. Cantalamessa said prosecutors can use the girl’s statements to the doctors and nurses who treated her.
“There’s tons of exceptions in this case to the hearsay rule,” Cantalamessa said.
Cantalamessa also said her office has prosecuted other cases in which the accuser has died, including the rape case of Charles Menton in 2007. Menton was accused of raping a 53-year-old woman in 2005, and two weeks before the trial in 2007, she died. Menton was still tried, convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Cantalamessa said statements made to medical personnel are almost always used.
“We use that in just about every case,” Cantalamessa said.
Cantalamessa also said prosecutors will file a motion asking for the rape and bribery cases to be tried together, since they are both related.
Judge Sweeney gave prosecutors 10 days to respond to the motion to dismiss, and she gave defense counsel seven days to respond to their argument before she makes a decision.