Widmer jury in 4th day of deliberations after break

LEBANON, Ohio - The waiting at the Warren County Courthouse has gone into Tuesday afternoon as the jury in the Ryan Widmer retrial continues to deliberate.

The fourth day of deliberations began with Judge Neal Bronson asking jurors if they had any problems adhering to court rules over the weekend, all members answered no. Judge Bronson then adjourned jurors to the jury room.

Jurors have now spent over 26 hours deliberating the fate of the Hamilton Township man accused of killing his newlywed wife in 2008. Jurors in the first trial deliberated for 23 hours before reaching a guilty verdict.

Once again, court observers are asking the same question: Will jurors reach a verdict on whether Ryan, 29, murdered his wife two years ago?

Often in cases, lawyers develop theories about how the longer deliberations take, it could be a hopeful sign for one side or another. The first jury took 23 hours last year to reach its guilty verdict.

Judge Bronson threw out the first verdict after some jurors admitted to staging experiments about skin drying times and discussing the results during deliberations.

Ryan and his family came to court a few minutes ahead of the scheduled 9 a.m. start for trial deliberations on Tuesday.

Widmer is charged with murdering his wife, Sarah, 24, who drowned in the bathroom of the couple's home on Aug. 11, 2008.

Ryan says he was downstairs watching television and came upstairs to find his wife of four months unresponsive in the bathtub.

Tuesday's deliberations come four days after jurors told Warren County Common Pleas Judge Neal Bronson they were at an impasse. Judge Bronson allowed them to take the Memorial Day weekend off.

It took only a few minutes for Judge Bronson on Tuesday to make sure there were no violations of his juror rules over the three-day weekend.

Judge Bronson asked the jurors, "Are there any among you who were unable to fully comply with the instructions of the court?" All the jurors responded, "No." The judge then said, "Great! We'll send you back for your deliberations."

As they've been doing since Wednesday afternoon when the jury first got the case, both defense and prosecution lawyers have remained in the courtroom, or inside the courthouse.

Prosecutors say they've presented enough circumstantial evidence for a conviction, while defense attorneys tried to prove their case was full of holes.

The prosecution told jurors last week that Sarah may have never been in the bathtub where Ryan says he found her dead. They also told the jury that Ryan cleaned up the crime scene and that's why there was no water around the bathroom when paramedics arrived after he called 911.

Prosecution witnesses testified the scene was dry when emergency workers arrived minutes after Ryan called 911 and that bruising on Sarah's neck indicates a struggle.

The defense told the jury the prosecution version of what happened has holes in it.

Ryan Widmer's attorneys reminded jurors of their expert testimony that indicated Sarah's injuries were not from murder, but from life-saving efforts. They also testified that there was no struggle between the newlywed couple.

The defense suggested the bruising was caused by resuscitation efforts and that Sarah may have drowned after a seizure or sudden heart problem that went undetected in the autopsy.

Stay with 9 News and WCPO.com for the latest on the fourth day of jury deliberations.