08-30-2011, 02:56 PM
Here we go again! I cannot imagine what the victims family is going through.
The Toledo Blade (August 30th 2011)
New trial date set in slaying of girl in 1967
Bowman is to return to court Oct. 11; jury pool to increase
A week after a Lucas County Common Pleas Court jury was unable to reach a verdict in his murder trial, Robert Bowman was given a new trial date Monday.
Bowman, 75, is to go to trial Oct. 11 on a charge of first-degree murder for the 1967 slaying of a Sylvania Township teenager. He faces life in prison if convicted.
His first trial ended Aug. 23 in a mistrial after a jury of nine women and three men couldn't reach a consensus. The jury deliberated nearly 12 hours over two days before being released. A juror who declined to give her name said the jury was stuck at a 10-2 vote in favor of conviction.
Jurors declined to comment as they left the courthouse after the mistrial last week. Most could not be reached for comment Monday; some declined to talk.
Judge Gene Zmuda said Monday the court intends to call a "substantially larger" jury pool, believing it will take longer than the 2 1⁄2 days needed to pick a jury this month because of recent media attention.
Bowman is accused of killing Eileen Adams, 14, who was last seen Dec. 18, 1967, on a bus after school. Her bound body was found in a Monroe County field Jan. 30, 1968.
The case went unsolved for nearly four decades until cold-case detectives reopened it in 2006 and a warrant was issued for Bowman's arrest. He was arrested in California two years later. He was indicted Oct. 31, 2008, and is being held in lieu of $500,000 bond.
Seventeen witnesses testified over seven days during the first trial that included more than 85 state exhibits and about a dozen from the defense.
Among the state's witnesses were DNA experts who testified about linking Bowman's DNA to a semen stain found on the victim's clothing. Also testifying was Bowman's former wife, Margaret, who said she saw a young girl bound in her basement in December, 1967, when she lived with Bowman and their daughter on West Sylvania Avenue.
The Toledo Blade (August 30th 2011)
New trial date set in slaying of girl in 1967
Bowman is to return to court Oct. 11; jury pool to increase
A week after a Lucas County Common Pleas Court jury was unable to reach a verdict in his murder trial, Robert Bowman was given a new trial date Monday.
Bowman, 75, is to go to trial Oct. 11 on a charge of first-degree murder for the 1967 slaying of a Sylvania Township teenager. He faces life in prison if convicted.
His first trial ended Aug. 23 in a mistrial after a jury of nine women and three men couldn't reach a consensus. The jury deliberated nearly 12 hours over two days before being released. A juror who declined to give her name said the jury was stuck at a 10-2 vote in favor of conviction.
Jurors declined to comment as they left the courthouse after the mistrial last week. Most could not be reached for comment Monday; some declined to talk.
Judge Gene Zmuda said Monday the court intends to call a "substantially larger" jury pool, believing it will take longer than the 2 1⁄2 days needed to pick a jury this month because of recent media attention.
Bowman is accused of killing Eileen Adams, 14, who was last seen Dec. 18, 1967, on a bus after school. Her bound body was found in a Monroe County field Jan. 30, 1968.
The case went unsolved for nearly four decades until cold-case detectives reopened it in 2006 and a warrant was issued for Bowman's arrest. He was arrested in California two years later. He was indicted Oct. 31, 2008, and is being held in lieu of $500,000 bond.
Seventeen witnesses testified over seven days during the first trial that included more than 85 state exhibits and about a dozen from the defense.
Among the state's witnesses were DNA experts who testified about linking Bowman's DNA to a semen stain found on the victim's clothing. Also testifying was Bowman's former wife, Margaret, who said she saw a young girl bound in her basement in December, 1967, when she lived with Bowman and their daughter on West Sylvania Avenue.