Prosecution in Seman case objects to paying for defense experts

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The prosecution and defense in the capital murder case of Robert Seman disagree concerning the hiring of defense experts at state expense.

Seman, 46, of Green Township, is charged with setting the March 30 fire that killed Corinne Gump, 10, and her grandparents, William and Judith Schmidt, in a Powers Way house.

The fire occurred on the day Seman’s trial was set to begin on charges Seman raped the 10-year-old.

Defense lawyers Thomas Zena and Lynn Maro have asked that they be permitted to approach Judge Maureen A. Sweeney, without prosecutors present, regarding their request to hire – at state expense – various experts to examine the evidence for the defense.

“Without this expert assistance, the defendant will be denied rights and freedoms” guaranteed by the U.S. and Ohio constitutions, Zena and Maro argued.

“The costs that the court would incur in order to provide the services defendant requests are excessive and unnecessary for an adequate defense,” said a response filed Monday and signed by Paul J. Gains, Mahoning County prosecutor, and three of his assistant prosecutors.

Judge Sweeney, of the county common pleas court, did not rule on the defense request during Wednesday’s five-minute pretrial hearing.

The defense wants to postpone demolition of the house until its experts can conduct their own tests to determine whether the fire was deliberately set.