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Thread: Peter Romans Acquitted in 2008 OH Triple Murder

  1. #1
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    Peter Romans Acquitted in 2008 OH Triple Murder





    Man accused of killing wife, children wants trial by judges

    LONDON, Ohio (AP) — A man charged with killing his wife and two children in an arson fire at their Ohio home in 2008 wants a three-judge panel and not a jury to hear and decide his case.

    Peter Romans, 59, has pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated murder, murder and aggravated arson. Defense attorney Sam Shamansky asked Wednesday in Madison County Common Pleas Court that two judges be appointed to the panel with the current judge.

    Shamansky also asked that Romans be allowed to change his mind and opt for a jury trial after learning which judges are appointed. Defendants have the right to know who is making decisions in their case, Shamansky said.

    Judge Janet Burnside agreed the law would allow Romans to withdraw his waiver of a jury trial, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Burnside, a retired judge from Cuyahoga County, is hearing the case by special assignment.

    Prosecutors maintain Romans set the fire that killed his wife, their 12-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter. Romans was wrongfully accused, according to Shamansky.

    Romans has said the fire was caused by a faulty part on his 2001 Ford Expedition SUV, which was parked next to the house. The part was under recall at the time.

    https://apnews.com/e82fac7a68d933ec53e0ad80b7c182cd
    Last edited by Steven; 03-21-2023 at 11:00 AM.

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Judges in Madison County deliberating case of man accused of killing his whole family

    LONDON — More than 14 years have passed since Peter Romans' wife and two children died in a roaring fire that consumed their rural Madison County home in a matter of minutes, but only now is the justice system finally set to decide whether or not Romans killed them.

    Following 11 days of testimony from 50 witnesses who included competing fire investigators and experts with opposite theories, and more than three hours of emotional closing arguments from state prosecutors and the defense team, Romans' fate now rests in the hands of a three-judge panel. The judges began deliberations in the Madison County Common Pleas Court case about 1 p.m. Wednesday.

    Romans, 60, is eligible for the death penalty if convicted of aggravated murder, the most serious charges against him. The judges can also consider a guilty verdict on lesser charges of murder. He also is charged with aggravated arson in the fire that killed his wife Billi, and their two children, 12-year-old Caleb and 16-year-old Ami just after midnight on April 6, 2008, at their rented modular home on Lilly-Chapel Opossum Run Road in rural Madison County.

    "Peter Romans intentionally set his vehicle on fire and killed his family," Joel King, one of two prosecutors handling the case by assignment from the Ohio Attorney General's Office, told the judges. "We ask that you hold him accountable."

    State experts testified that they believe kerosene was poured on the driver's side floorboard of Romans' 2001 Ford Expedition SUV (that was parked about 18 inches from the house and next to a propane line) and then set afire that night.

    As his wife and daughter both called 911 for help, Romans can be heard on the recording telling them to get to a door as he leaves with his keys in hand to move his own pickup truck away from the blaze.

    Romans told investigators that he couldn't get back in and then ran to his landlord's house about two football fields away for help.

    "Peter Romans made a number of decisions, and every one of them was to make sure that Ami, Billi and Caleb died."

    — Joel King, a prosecutor with the Ohio Attorney General's Office.

    Defense attorney Sam Shamansky told the judges that the investigators' theories for why Romans would have set the fire — because of crushing financial woes and/or a purported affair with his best friend's wife — were insulting and unsupported by evidence. He said the state's case was one built on "gobbledygook," half-truths and shifting explanations.

    "Torched for money or love?" Shamansky asked with an incredulous shake of his head, adding that what he said was $50,000 or $60,000 of insurance money (the state says the amount of that and donations is much, much higher) Romans received would have been little compensation for losing everything he loved. "I swear to God I can't imagine what I'd do if everything I love and the kids I raised and the wife I had taken care of burned up."

    "The fact that he survived does not make him guilty."

    —Sam Shamansky, defense attorney for Peter Romans, said of the 2008 fire that killed Romans' family.

    As Shamansky spoke, Romans appeared to cry. Robin Romans, his current wife and the woman he was accused of having an affair with after he moved in with her family immediately after the fire, sobbed as she listened and looked on.

    Read more:Testimony underway in trial of man accused of killing family in 2008 Madison County fire

    Read more:Romans wants judges to try his case, not a jury

    The case passed through the hands of many investigators over the years, and the evidence was given multiple looks. It was also featured in 2011 as part of The Dispatch's Killers Among Us cold-case series.

    It wasn't until July 2019, however, that a specially-called grand jury indicted Romans. Authorities arrested him at his home in Orient in nearby Pickaway County, and he has been in jail since.

    The case has always been one of competing theories. All involved agree the fire started in that Ford Expedition parked in the carport. And it is fact that Ford for years had had a documented problem with the cruise-control deactivation switches in vehicles, and had a longstanding recall because the company said the switches could malfunction and start fires even when the vehicle isn't running. The Romans' SUV was under recall, but had never been repaired.

    Following the fire, Romans filed a number of lawsuits in the case, blaming the faulty cruise control switch for the blaze that killed his family. He still has a case pending against Ford in federal court, but Romans' civil attorney says it's been placed on hold pending the outcome of the criminal trial.

    Because of those civil lawsuits, both the prosecution and the defense had a a number of expert tests and theories available that have been done over the years. Each side brought in experts who had looked at the same evidence — the very switch taken from the Romans' SUV as evidence after the fire — and came to competing theories. State experts said the fire clearly was set in the passenger compartment and spread. The defense experts said the fire clearly started in the switch.

    The fire was ruled arson by the state fire marshal's office.

    Dan Kasaris, the other prosecutor from the attorney general's office, called his case a puzzle.

    "Each piece of evidence doesn't make the case, but you put it all together and it makes sense," he said. "The truth is in the ashes."

    Romans elected to have his case heard by a three-judge panel rather than a jury, something which all attorneys involved say is rare.

    Presiding over the case is retired Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Janet R. Burnside and sitting with her are Retired Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Pokorny and retired Brown County Common Pleas Court Judge R. Alan Corbin.

    https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/...se/6057736002/
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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Man Accused Of Killing Wife, 2 Kids In Arson Fire Acquitted On All Counts

    Associated Press

    LONDON, Ohio (AP) — A man accused of killing his wife and two children in an arson fire at their Ohio home in 2008 was acquitted Thursday of all charges by a three-judge panel that heard the case.

    Peter Romans, 60, of London, faced aggravated murder, murder and aggravated arson charges. He opted to have a three-judge panel hear his case, rather than a jury, and he could have faced the death penalty if convicted.

    Prosecutors maintained Romans set the fire that killed his wife, their 12-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter. Romans’ lawyers said the fire was caused by a faulty part on his 2001 Ford Expedition SUV, which was parked next to the house. The part was under recall at the time.

    Dan Kasaris, who prosecuted the case on behalf of the Ohio Attorney General’s office, said Romans poured kerosene in the SUV and set the blaze inside the vehicle. Kasaris suggested that Romans was especially desperate because he had previously spent a long stretch out of work and the family’s finances had collapsed.

    Defense attorney Sam Shamansky called the whole case a sham built on nothing but speculation and said no crime was committed, noting that his client “lost everything in the world that mattered to him the most.”

    https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020...on-all-counts/
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  4. #4
    Senior Member Frequent Poster Ted's Avatar
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    Do we reckon he actually did it, or?
    Violence and death seem to be the only answers that some people understand.

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