Ryan Widmer, The Trial III premiers this week in Warren County.  For those who don’t know, Widmer is on trial for murder in the 2008 bathtub drowning of his wife.  Widmer was found guilty in 2009 but the verdict was nullified due to juror misconduct.  A second jury last year failed to reach a verdict, setting up the third trial which is scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

While much of the attention this time around will focus on a “mystery witness” who allegedly heard Widmer confess in some manner, and on whether Widmer’s defense will be allowed to question Hamilton Township Police Detective Lt. Jeff Braley about some inaccuracies in his personnel file, I am personally interested to see how the dynamic changes because of Widmer’s inability to completely fund his third trial.  According to news reports, Widmer spent approximately $500,000 for his legal defense in the first two trials, but exhausted his funds and has requested public assistance for expert witnesses to testify on his behalf.  He requested almost $50,000 from the court, but Judge Neal Bronson only allowed $11,000 in funds for two of the five experts he sought. 

The Warren County Prosecutor’s Office can spend whatever it wants on the case, no matter how many times the case is tried.  Unfortunately, criminal defendants are not similarly situated.  One can argue that the $500,000 Widmer paid for his defense the first two times around was money well-spent.  I work as a public defender, and know many other attorneys who have served in that capacity.  Some of the hardest-working attorneys are often spending most of their time on public defender cases, putting everything they have into their cases, regardless of the amount they are paid.  The issue for indigent defendants is not often their attorneys – it is the inability to match the State in resources for investigation and expert testimony. 

If Widmer really is innocent, it would be a crime for him to be convicted because of the State’s ability to out-spend him.  Whether the excluded experts he sought will be the difference in this trial remains to be seen.  The “mystery witness” or Detective Braley issues may have a larger impact.  (Widmer may also be faced with taking the stand to testify this time, unlike in the first two trials, but that’s another issue for another day).  But, it will be interesting to see how Judge Bronson’s ruling on funds for experts comes into play, and if it does, how the verdict is ultimately accepted by the public.

Written by Daniel W. Gehr