Judge Sweeney to make ruling in Seman aggravated-murder trial


YOUNGSTOWN — Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court said she will rule shortly on a motion by attorneys for Robert Seman to rule the death penalty unconstitutional.

Seman faces the death penalty if convicted of the arson deaths of Corinne Gump, 10, and her grandparents, William and Judith Schmidt during a fire March 31, 2015, at their Powers Way home.

Seman, 46, of Green, had a pretrial hearing today.

The motion says under Ohio law the death penalty is unconstitutional because it eliminates an appeal to the 7th District Court of Appeals, instead going directly to the Ohio Supreme Court.

The motion says that violates Seman's equal-protection rights because only death penalty cases skip the appeals court level.

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