Attorneys: Jurors crucial in homicide cases

By JOE GORMAN

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The chances are pretty good if someone has a murder case bound over to court in Mahoning County, that person will be spending time in prison.

A review of court, police and Vindicator files shows that of 211 cases of people charged with a homicide by Youngstown police that were bound over to Mahoning County Common Pleas Court between 2001-2017, 169 of those defendants went to prison.

More specifically, 103 defendants were convicted of murder or aggravated murder and 66 others took plea bargains that resulted in prison time.

Overall, Youngstown had 451 homicides during that time period, and city police managed to solve or make an arrest in 262 cases.

Of those cases considered solved, several did not make it to court because a suspect was either dead or killed in the commission of the crime.

Then there’s the case of Robert Seman. Facing a death-penalty case for the murders of Corinne Gump, 10, and her grandparents, William and Judith Schmidt, during a March 30, 2015, arson at the Schmidt’s Powers Way home, Seman, 49, committed suicide April 10, 2017, by leaping to his death inside the Mahoning County Courthouse.

Eight of the other cases were ruled self-defense.

The numbers also show that of cases bound over by a grand jury, nine defendants were acquitted, and 22 cases were dismissed.

Twelve cases that were bound over are still pending, the longest of which is from 2009.

A sampling of comments from defense attorneys who try murder cases say that while each case is different, some things are the same. The prime one which they said is the reversal of the axiom that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty.

“Jurors don’t view evidence and jury instructions the same way when there’s a body,” said Lynn Maro, who has represented several defendants charged with murder. “They’ll flip the burden of proof.”

That’s why, for Maro, jury selection is the most important aspect of any murder case. She said she looks for jurors who may be willing to listen to a defense argument and set aside any bias.

“It does matter who is sitting in that box and what their perspective is,” Maro said.

Another attorney, Lou DeFabio, said he pores over coroner’s reports and police reports of murder scenes to make sure he knows what evidence prosecutors have. He then examines that evidence with witness statements to look for anything that does not match up to the physical evidence.

“One of my big things is if the physical evidence doesn’t match up what the witnesses are saying, there’s reasonable doubt,” DeFabio said.

“It’s harder to try a murder case with a jury because juries are more likely to want someone to pay,” DeFabio said. “When someone’s dead, the stakes are so high.”

DeFabio also said the prosecution has an advantage in a murder case before it even starts because of the nature of the crime, so he says when he speaks to jurors during selection, he makes sure not to sugarcoat any of the details of the case.

He said it is a way to get them used to and familiar with what they will hear in court.

“If you talk about it enough, the jury will do their best to put that aside,” DeFabio said.

Tom Zena, another defense lawyer who has tried several murder cases, said often in murder cases, prosecutors use witnesses who took part in the crime but received plea deals for either reduced prison time or no prison time at all.

Zena, a former Mahoning County prosecutor, said jurors need to know about that and jurors need to know why they are not being charged.

Zena said it is crucial for the defense to keep the case to the evidence and testimony in the courtroom.

“You cannot let the gravity of the offense replace evidence,” Zena said. “That’s a feature that’s unique to death cases.”

During jury selection, Zena said he pays close attention to the facial expressions of potential jurors and also does that during the trial itself to see what arguments may be working on his client’s behalf.

On the prosecution side, assistant Prosecutor Nick Brevetta said he tries to talk to the detective who is in charge of a case before it is presented to a grand jury. He also examines all physical evidence to make sure everything lines up so when the case is indicted, there are no surprises a defense attorney may be able to exploit.

“We know how the defense will line up so we can put on our case,” Brevetta said.

Dawn Cantalamessa, chief assistant prosecutor, earlier this summer had three murder cases in a row. She spent six weeks on jury selection and trial for the Lance Hundley capital murder case, then followed that up with two other cases.

Cantalamessa said physical evidence is important in her preparation.

“Murders don’t happen in crowded rooms a lot of times,” Cantalamessa said.

She also agreed jury selection is the most important aspect of a trial from her perspective.

“I think murder cases are won and lost in jury selection, but that’s true in every case,” she said.

Prosecutors also have to explain to jurors, however, why a particular witness in a case may have gotten a plea bargain or the process for collecting and examining evidence, Cantalamessa said.

Sometimes, prosecutors have no other witnesses than someone who may have been present at a crime scene and even participated but not to the point where they inflicted the person’s death.

She said she makes sure she brings up plea bargains with witnesses to jurors to make sure why certain deals are made.

She also said a lot of jurors think evidence collection and use is like they see on crime shows on television, and that is not so. Cantalamessa said she has witnesses who collect evidence explain what they do and how they do it so any misconceptions can be cleared up.