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Second jury orientation set in Seman case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Jury orientation for a new trial for Robert Seman will be Feb. 3.
The date was picked Wednesday by Judge Maureen Sweeney in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court during a brief hearing.
Judge Sweeney also outlined some of the security restrictions she wants in place to ward off some of the problems that cropped up in September among the last group of jurors to report for the case. Those problems caused a mistrial.
Seman, 47, of Green, is eligible for the death penalty if convicted of aggravated murder because prosecutors charged he killed the witness to a crime; killed a person younger than 13; killed two or more people; killed to escape prosecution from a crime; and killed someone in the commission of another felony, which in this case means aggravated arson or aggravated burglary.
Seman is accused of setting a fire March 30, 2015, at the Powers Way home of William and Judith Schmidt that killed the couple and their 10-year-old granddaughter, Corinne Gump, the day Seman was to go on trial for raping the girl. Seman was free on bond at the time of the fire.
Jury orientation in the case was Sept. 9, when more than 150 people reported to the courtroom to be questioned by attorneys to see if they could serve as jurors in the case.
Individual questioning of these people began Sept. 13; however, it was halted shortly after that because Judge Sweeney was attending a previously scheduled judicial conference.
But the process was stopped for good after defense attorneys asked for a mistrial, saying that one of the people chosen for orientation was speaking to other potential jurors, despite taking an oath not to talk about the case, and telling them that Seman was already guilty.
Defense attorneys said those remarks could have poisoned the entire jury pool against their client.
Judge Sweeney declared a mistrial Sept. 19.
Judge Sweeney said Wednesday after the new potential jurors are sworn in Feb. 3, they will be separated into smaller groups than the last time, and a deputy will be with each group to ensure they do not talk about the case and if they do, they can be warned and also confined to a small group instead of exposing the entire pool of potential jurors to the comments.