Claudia Hoerig trial resumes later today

WARREN

Two women are scheduled to testify on Claudia Hoerig’s behalf when Hoerig’s aggravated murder trial resumes at 1 p.m. today, but it’s unknown whether Hoerig will also take the stand.

The trial cannot start up until 1 p.m. because Judge Andrew Logan, who is presiding over the case in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, will have hearings in about 30 other cases in the morning.

Prosecutors rested their case Friday after hearing from a substitute forensic pathologist and three pilots in the U.S. Air Force Reserves who served in the military with Claudia’s husband, Maj. Karl Hoerig. Claudia is accused of killing her husband in their Newton Falls home March 12, 2007.

Among the three was Krista Bridges, who testified that she and Claudia were sitting next to each other at a bachelorette party in Cleveland for another woman, and someone told a funny story about Karl.

Bridges said Claudia leaned over to her and said of Karl: “If he ever leaves me, I’ll kill him.”

Bridges said that when she learned Karl had died, “That’s the first thing that came to my mind,” but she did not tell investigators about the incident until March 2018, a few months after Claudia was returned to the United States for trial.

Defense attorney John Cornely asked Bridges on cross examination whether Bridges and her friends want “justice for Karl,” and she agreed they do.

Testifying on Claudia’s behalf today will be Ella Johnson of Newton Falls and Barbara Silver of Jamaica, New York.

In his opening statement, Cornely told jurors they will “hear from” Claudia during the trial, but it’s possible he only meant they would hear her 2 1/2 hour videotaped interview with detectives. She gave the interview the night she was returned to the United States Jan. 17, 2018.