43
Seman dead after four-floor leap in courthouse
Recap of Seman Suicide
Video
The Vindicator news team recaps the footage of the unexpected suicide of Robert Seman in the Mahoning County Courthouse.
Robert Seman Suicide
Gallery
Robert Seman, on trial for three murders jumped to his death from a fourth floor balcony in the Mahoning County Courthouse.
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A worker in the Mahoning County Courthouse said the impact of Robert Seman’s body hitting the marble floor Monday morning after falling four floors “shook the building.”
Photo Gallery: Robert Seman Suicide
The leap from the fourth floor – in excess of 50 feet – cancels one of the most highly publicized murder trials in the area. The 48-year-old Seman of Green Township faced the death penalty if convicted in the March 30, 2015, arson deaths of Corinne Gump, 10, and her grandparents, William and Judith Schmidt, in their Powers Way home just hours before Seman was to go on trial in connection with the girl’s rape.
Seman, who is listed in jail records as being 5 feet, 10 inches tall and 260 pounds, was coming from a final status hearing in his trial that was set to begin Wednesday in Portage County Common Pleas Court when he jumped to his death. A deputy could be heard shouting, then Seman could be seen hurtling through the air.
Stunned courthouse employees and visitors made their way to the first floor or watched from above as Seman lay motionless on the floor on his side. One of his two attorneys, Tom Zena, felt for a pulse and later said there was a faint one as a woman in medical coveralls also tried to give Seman aid before paramedics arrived, rolled him over, and placed a white sheet over his body. His face was purple with bruising and his skin already was going pale when they arrived.
Some workers hugged each other and some cried.
One prosecutor who was there said: “That was an evil, evil man,” before turning away.
NOT WEARING CUFFS
Seman was not wearing handcuffs. He was wearing khakis and a shirt and tie. Sheriff Jerry Greene said that in high-profile cases, defendants are often dressed in civilian clothes and have no visible restraints because judges do not want onlookers to get the perception a defendant is guilty before his trial starts.
Seman had gone to court regularly in such an arrangement since he was indicted in July 2015.
Greene said that such an arrangement is always a court order. He said maybe in the future he would investigate requesting a modification to that, but he said it is too soon to tell now.
In a video of the leap shot from the fourth-floor security camera outside Judge Sweeney’s court, Seman is walking with a deputy in front of him and a deputy behind him. The deputy in front of Seman turns around to face him and the two seem to be talking to each other calmly before Seman suddenly grabs the railing with both hands and vaults over.
FAMILY, FRIENDS REACT
Lisa Cappitti, stepmother of Corinne, said she was full of emotion after she heard the news. She said she feels bad for Seman’s parents and children who are close to her family and do not deserve the negative attention that the case has generated toward him.
“It’s sad,” Cappitti said. “There’s no justice at all. We don’t know what to feel.”
Jean McCammon lives across the street from the former Schmidt residence on Powers Way, and didn’t mince words about her feelings after Seman’s death.
“I hollered, ‘Hallelujah!’” she said. “Lucifer is digesting the weirdest, meanest soul that was ever on this earth.”
McCammon has lived there 14 years and has memories of Corinne Gump riding her bicycle up and down the street. She said many in the neighborhood shared her sentiments regarding Seman’s death.
A man walking by declined to talk to Vindicator reporters because “you couldn’t write down what I had to say anyway.”
Britney Fedor lives a few houses down from the house where Gump and the Schmidts died. She moved to the neighborhood in May, but she said she and her children put flowers on the memorial where the house used to stand.
She said Seman knew he was guilty.
“I just think he took the easy way out,” Fedor said. “[The family] didn’t get the justice they deserved.”
UNEXPECTED END
Both the lead prosecutor on the case, Dawn Cantalamessa, and Zena said they were stunned that Seman killed himself.
Cantalamessa said all indications she had was that Seman was prepared to fight charges that could carry the death penalty, and she was happy to oblige. She said she has never had a case in her career where a defendant met as many specifications for the death penalty as Seman did, as under Ohio law he was eligible for the death penalty by more than five different categories. Cantalamessa said it was “telling” that instead of taking his chances with a jury, Seman leaped to his death instead.
Zena also said he was taken by surprise. He said Seman had been regularly assisting him and his co-counsel, Lynn Maro, in his defense. Zena said the last thing he told Seman was that he would see him Wednesday in Ravenna.
The case was moved to Portage County after two attempts at picking a jury in Mahoning County failed.
Seman was to have been taken to the Portage County jail Friday but because of a last-second change in the schedule that put Monday’s hearing on the docket, he was not transferred so he could attend.
Seman was expected to be taken to Portage County after Monday’s hearing, Cantalamessa said.
“We weren’t even expecting him to be here today,” Cantalamessa said.
Prosecutor Paul Gains made a short statement but said he did not want to comment until the investigation into Seman’s death is over.
“I feel badly for anyone who had to witness this unfortunate incident,” Gains said.
Gains said he is disappointed because he also wanted to see the case go to trial.
Cantalamessa said the hearing in court lasted less than five minutes and attorneys went over last minute jury dismissals. When the hearing was over, the deputies were walking Seman back to a secure elevator they use on fourth floor, which is where Judge Sweeney’s courtroom is, when he jumped.
CASE HISTORY
At the time of the Powers Way fire, Seman was free on $200,000 bond.
Prosecutors had strong circumstantial evidence linking him to the fire, including makeup he bought to cover burns they said he suffered when he set the fire, and video of him buying the makeup.
As part of his bond, Seman was to be on electronic monitoring yet records showed he did not break the terms of his house arrest. Prosecutors were expected to explain at trial how he was able to overcome the electronic monitoring device.
Seman was indicted March 20, 2014, in the rape case and would have faced a sentence of life in prison if he had been convicted. He was granted bond in that case April 23, 2014.
On the day of the fire, March 30, 2015, Seman did appear in court but his bond was revoked by Judge Sweeney after prosecutors told her Seman’s ex-wife approached them and said Seman tried to bribe her the day before the fire was set.
He was indicted on a charge of bribery April 9, 2015.
The grand jury returned indictments in the case involving the arson June 10, 2015.
Among the specifications they found that made Seman eligible for the death penalty included that they found he killed a person under 13; he killed two or more people; he killed someone in the commission of another felony, in this case aggravated burglary or aggravated arson; he killed the witness to a crime; he killed someone to escape prosecution; and he used premeditation.
Back on Powers Way, McCammon said she will rest easier now knowing there won’t be a long series of appeals after Seman’s trial.
“I feel now that Judy, Bill and Corinne can be at peace,” she said.