Widmer v. Warden

• Decision Date: 02 February 2017
• Docket Number: Case No. 1:14-cv-303
• Parties: RYAN K. WIDMER, Petitioner, v. WARDEN, CORRECTIONAL RECEPTION CENTER, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

RYAN K. WIDMER, Petitioner, v. WARDEN, CORRECTIONAL RECEPTION CENTER, Respondent.

Case No. 1:14-cv-303

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO WESTERN DIVISION AT CINCINNATI

February 2, 2017

District Judge Timothy S. Black

Magistrate Judge Michael R. Merz

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This is a habeas corpus action brought by Petitioner Ryan K. Widmer pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 seeking relief from his conviction for murder and his subsequent sentence of fifteen years to life imprisonment.

Mr. Widmer is represented in this proceeding by counsel who has represented him since May 6, 2009, during the litigation of his post-trial motions following his first trial (See Respondent's Appendix ("App'x"), ECF No. 17-1, Exh. 44, PageID 605). In addition, Mr. Widmer's current counsel has represented Mr. Widmer in his appeals on a pro bono basis since February, 2011(See ECF No. 2, PageID 169).

Statement of Facts

The Ohio Court of Appeals for the Twelfth Appellate District described the facts and circumstances leading to Mr. Widmer's indictment, trials, conviction, and adjudged sentence as follows:

[*P2] The record indicates that on Monday, August 11, 2008, at 10:49 p.m., Widmer called 911 for emergency assistance. The phone call lasted less than seven minutes. During the phone call, Widmer stated that his 24-year-old wife, Sarah Widmer, had fallen asleep in the bathtub at their home in Morrow, Ohio, and he thought she was dead. Widmer told the 911 dispatcher he had been downstairs watching TV, and when he came upstairs, he found Sarah lying face-down in the bathtub. He commented to the dispatcher that Sarah "falls asleep in the tub all the time."

[*P3] While on the telephone with the 911 dispatcher, Widmer drained the bathwater, removed Sarah from the bathtub, and proceeded to attempt CPR. Within six minutes of placing the 911 call, Deputy Steve Bishop with the Warren County Sheriff's Office arrived at the scene and found Sarah lying naked on the carpeted floor of the master bedroom. Sarah's body was warm and appeared to be dry, but her hair was wet. Widmer was also in the bedroom, dressed only in his boxer shorts. Bishop did not observe any trauma or injuries to Widmer.

[*P4] After determining Sarah did not have a pulse and was not breathing, Bishop began CPR. Bishop noticed that a pinkish-white, frothy discharge was coming out of Sarah's mouth and nose, and additional discharge occurred during chest compressions. Emergency personnel who later arrived at the scene also noticed a frothy discharge coming from Sarah's vaginal area.

[*P5] Paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) from the Hamilton Township Fire and Rescue Department and police officers from the Hamilton Township Police Department arrived shortly after Bishop. EMT Jeff Teague tried to open Sarah's airway and attempted to place a bag valve mask over her nose and mouth to provide concentrated oxygen. Teague struggled to keep the mask on Sarah as her head kept retracting down, making the mask pop off. Teague successfully adhered defibrillation pads to Sarah's body, one on her chest and the other on her back, and attempted to shock her heart back into rhythm, but she remained asystole.^FN1

FN1. Asystole was defined at trial by medical personnel as the absence of an electrical rhythm in the heart.

[*P6] Paramedic Jason Stevens made two attempts to intubate Sarah while in the master bedroom, but both attempts were unsuccessful. On his second attempt to intubate, Stevens had Teague perform the Sellick maneuver so that he could see Sarah's vocal cords and place the tube in Sarah's trachea.^FN2 After the second intubation attempt failed, the decision was made to place Sarah on a backboard and remove her from the home. Sarah's body was covered with a sheet and rolled out of the home into a waiting ambulance.

FN2. According to Teague, "[t]he Sellick maneuver is pressure on a cartilage in your throat to allow * * * [for] multiple things. One to close off the actual throat to the stomach to keep from allowing vomit to come out and the other one is visualize the vocal cords."

[*P7] While the ambulance was stationary, Stevens attempted to establish an intravenous line (IV) in Sarah. After failing to find a vein in both her right arm and her left arm, Stevens was able to start an IV in the external jugular vein on the left side of Sarah's neck. EMT Derek K. Roat made two unsuccessful attempts to intubate Sarah, utilizing the Sellick maneuver on one of those attempts. While Sarah was being treated in the ambulance, Widmer talked briefly with law enforcement. Widmer admitted he consumed four beers earlier in the evening.

[*P8] Approximately ten minutes after Sarah was placed in the ambulance, the decision was made to transport her to the hospital. Widmer, visibly upset, rode along with the ambulance. While en route to the hospital, Roat made a fifth intubation attempt, which proved unsuccessful. When Sarah arrived at Bethesda Arrow Springs Hospital, she was not breathing and did not have a pulse. Dr. David Marcus, the treating emergency room physician, was able to intubate Sarah within 60 to 90 seconds of her arrival. While Sarah underwent treatment, a charting nurse attempted to gain information about Sarah from Widmer. Widmer told the charting nurse that he found Sarah in the bathtub, face-up, and not breathing.

[*P9] At 11:41 p.m., after nearly 20 minutes of treatment in the emergency room, Sarah was pronounced dead. Shortly thereafter, Doyle Burke, the chief investigator for the Warren County Coroner's Office, arrived at the hospital. Upon observing Sarah'sbody, Burke noticed that Sarah's body appeared dry, but her hair was damp, there did not appear to be any pruning or wrinkling on her body, and she did not have any visible external injuries. When bagging Sarah's hands to preserve evidence, Burke noticed that Sarah's nails were well manicured and were not broken or chipped.

[*P10] While at the hospital, Widmer told Burke that he and Sarah were the only people in their home that night. Widmer stated that at about 10:00 p.m., while he was watching a football game on TV downstairs, Sarah said she was going to go upstairs to take a bath. At this point, Widmer interjected that he had been "afraid she may fall asleep in the tub." When Burke asked if Sarah had ever fallen asleep in the tub before, Widmer said no, she'd never fallen asleep in the tub before, but Sarah would fall asleep very easily. After relaying to Burke the events following his discovery of Sarah in the bathtub, Widmer consented to have police search his home.

[*P11] Detective Lieutenant Jeff Braley with the Hamilton Township Police Department arrived at the Widmers' home as the ambulance transporting Sarah to the hospital departed from the scene. Upon arriving, Braley was briefed by the officers who had initially responded and was given a tour of the home by Officer Quillian Short. During his tour of the home, Braley noticed that the bathroom floor and the items laying on the floor, including magazines, a bathmat, discarded clothing, and a brown towel, appeared dry. Braley also noticed that the tub itself was mostly dry, with the only observable water being droplets located right around the drain. Officer Short noticed water droplets around the drain and on the stopper, but found no evidence of water on the bathroom floor or anywhere else outside of the bathtub. Short also noticed that the majority of the Widmers' bath products were lined up along the edge of the tub, with the exception of a cup, a loofa, and a bottle of Dial soap, which were inside the bathtub.

[*P12] After receiving word of Widmer's consent to have the home searched, a more thorough investigation took place. Officers who secured the scene did not find any indication the house had been broken into. When investigating the downstairs, Short discovered that the TV on which Widmer claimed to have been watching a Cincinnati Bengals football game was actually set to a different program. The TV in the master bedroom, however, was set to the Cincinnati Bengals game.

[*P13] Braley examined the master bedroom and found blood stains on the carpet in the location where Sarah's head and vaginal area hadbeen laying. Braley took off his latex gloves and felt the carpet in the area between the blood stains to determine if the carpet contained any moisture. Braley found the carpet dry. He then took samples of the carpet from the area where the stains were. The samples were individually sealed in brown paper bags.

[*P14] Evidence was also collected from the bathroom, which included products lined up on the edge of the bathtub and the items inside the bathtub. The items found on the floor of the bathroom, including the magazines, bathmat, discarded clothing, and the brown towel, were recovered as evidence. Also recovered in the bathroom was a used Lysol wipe, which was taken into evidence.

[*P15] Additional areas of the Widmers' home were searched for evidence. Officers briefly looked through the laundry room, inside the washer and dryer, in the garage, and inside Sarah and Widmer's vehicles. The officers did not discover wet towels or anything else out of the ordinary during this brief search.

[*P16] The following day, Dr. Russell Uptegrove, the Warren County Coroner, performed Sarah's autopsy. Burke and Braley were present during the autopsy. Uptegrove determined that Sarah's death was caused by drowning. Uptegrove observed both external and internal injuries to Sarah's body. Externally, Sarah had faint bruising on the right-side of her forehead, a petechial hemorrhage on the inner surface of her eyelid, bruising on the left-side of her neck, a contusion on the back of her neck, an abrasion on her left armpit, and bruising and lacerations to her upper lip.^FN3 Internally, Sarah had significant, deep muscle hemorrhaging in the anterior of her neck and contusions to her scalp. Uptegrove took microscopic samples of Sarah's brain and heart for

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