HOERIG TRIAL | Former detective goes over case evidence

WARREN

The first day of testimony in the Claudia Hoerig aggravated murder trial has wrapped up with former Trumbull County Sheriff's office detective Peter Pizzulo still on the witness stand.

Pizzulo, who will resume his testimony Thursday morning, identified crime-scene photos and exhibits in the case.

Among the exhibits were the shirt Claudia Hoerig's husband, Karl Hoerig, was wearing the day he was killed March 12, 2007 in his Newton Falls home, the handgun believed to have been used to kill him, unfired bullets and other firearm-related items.

Pizzulo will resume testifying Thursday morning when the trial resumes.

Claudia Hoerig is accused of killing her husband and fleeing to her native Brazil.

Pizzulo was among five witnesses who testified, including a man who worked at a Leavittsburg gun shop where Claudia Hoerig purchased a gun March 10, 2007, and a man who worked at a Warren shooting range and gun store where she practiced with a gun and nearly bought a second gun that same day.

Also testifying was a man who spoke with Karl Hoerig a few weeks before his death about renting Karl Hoerig a house in Newton Falls and the Newton Falls police officer who first discovered Karl Hoerig's body.

Defense attorney John Cornely told jurors in his opening statement that Claudia does not dispute that she shot and killed her husband.

But there were a series of events including Claudia trying to kill herself 38 days before she shot her husband, multiple pregnancies and Karl Hoerig telling her that he did not want to have a child.

The day she killed her husband, she acted in a fit of rage after her husband told her he didn't care if she killed herself, just don't get her blood on his paintings.

Cornely said there will be no evidence presented that Claudia Hoerig acted with prior calculation and design, elements in her aggravated murder charge.

Earlier, Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins spoke for close to an hour, saying the explanation Hoerig gave to investigators about how and why she killed her husband "don't match the crime scene" at their home on Ninth Street in Newton Falls.

Defense attorneys John Cornely and David Rouzzo of the Ohio Public Defender's Office objected repeatedly to the way Watkins presented his opening statements, saying Watkins was giving his opinion instead of an overview of the evidence Watkins expects the jurors to hear during testimony. Judge Andrew Logan sustained a few of the objections but overruled many others.

The jury selected Tuesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court made a bus trip this morning to see the Newton Falls home, where Karl Hoerig's body was found March 15, 2007. Claudia Hoerig is accused of killing her husband three days earlier.