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Mistrial ruled in Seman case; change of venue denied
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Judge Maureen Sweeney Monday denied defense motions to move the capital murder case of Robert Seman out of Mahoning County but she did agree to grant a mistrial and to dismiss the pool of jurors summoned for duty in the case.
Judge Sweeney instead ruled that a new pool of jurors will be summoned for the case against Seman, 47, of Green Township, who could face the death penalty if convicted of the deaths of Corinne Gump, 10, and her grandparents, William and Judith Schmidt, during a March 30, 2015, arson at the Schmidts’ Powers Way home on the day Seman was to go on trial on a charge of raping the girl.
Seman was free on bond at the time of the fire.
A new trial date has not been set. A pretrial hearing in the case is set for Oct. 5.
Judge Sweeney based her mistrial ruling on arguments made by defense attorneys that during the Sept. 9 jury orientation, one of the jurors filling out a questionnaire was discussing the case with other potential jurors, which violated the oath that potential jurors took to not discuss the case.
That juror, defense attorneys claimed, already had determined that Seman was guilty and he was telling other potential jurors details of the case, which defense attorneys said skewed the pool against Seman and made it harder to find an impartial jury.
“There is no way to ferret out the negative publicity,” said defense attorney Lynn Maro, in a brief oral hearing before Judge Sweeney issued her ruling.
Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer McLaughlin said during the hearing that there is evidence that jurors were following instructions because they told the juror who was making remarks about the case to stop talking about it.
“They told the juror to stop talking about it as you instructed them to do so,” McLaughlin said.
Jury orientation in the case was Sept. 9, when more than 150 jurors reported to the courtroom to be questioned by attorneys to see if they could serve as jurors in the case. Individual questioning of jurors began Sept. 13, however, it was halted shortly after that because Judge Sweeney was attending a previously scheduled judicial conference.
Defense attorneys filed motions months ago to change the venue of the trial because of intense pretrial publicity, and Judge Sweeney denied that motion Sept. 12 but said she would revisit it during the jury selection process if it became difficult to pick a jury.
She said in her ruling Monday that she still thinks a motion to change venue in the case is “premature,” but she added she is troubled that some people called for jury duty in the case ignored the oath they took before they filled out the questionnaires to not discuss the case.
In her ruling, Judge Sweeney said when the next jury pool reports for orientation, they will be split into small groups and those groups will be taken into the courtroom separately to be given their oaths and instructions, and that a deputy sheriff will then accompany each group as they fill out their questionnaires.
Seman 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.
If jurors find Seman is eligible for the death penalty, 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 should spare Seman’s life.