The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Closings delivered in North Ridgeville murder case
A Lorain County Common Pleas Court jury will have to wait another day before they begin deliberating the case of 77-year-old Ronald Svec.
Common Pleas Judge James L. Miraldi decided to let the jurors — seven men and seven women — who have listened to a week of testimony in the case go home citing the later hour of the day when both prosecutors and defense had finished their closing arguments.
Svec, of Parma, is facing two counts of murder and two counts of felonious assault in
connection to the Nov. 6, 2015, shooting death of his 69-year-old wife, Gloria Svec, while their 4-year-old grandson sat nearby eating pancakes.
Ronald Svec has claimed self-defense in the shooting.
Closing arguments started nearly five hours later than planned as both sides and the court worked to perfect the voluminous instructions which will be given before the jury can begin deliberating
In the state’s closing argument, Lorain County Assistant Prosecutor Donna Freeman reinforced the position that Ronald Svec shot his wife twice with a Norenco 1911 A1 semi-automatic pistol in an effort to get her to “be quiet.”
Freeman said after Svec shot his wife once in the hallway of the North Ridgeville home they shared, he followed her to the kitchen where she cowered behind a counter and grabbed a knife to protect herself.
“She goes around this corner, and she grabs a steak knife,” Freeman said pointing to a picture of the kitchen. “You heard the little boy saying in his interview, she threw a knife at papa and he’s actually making a throwing motion. That’s a desperate act.”
This narrative runs counter to Svec’s statements to police following the shooting in which he claimed she’d been poking the knife, which was found in her hand when first responders arrived, at him throughout the altercation that led to the shooting.
Freeman said Ronald Svec then shot Gloria Svec through the head while she was attempting to hide from him, and then told her to “be quiet” while she was on the floor bleeding.
The statement Svec gave to police changed multiple times from saying it was an accident to claiming he was scared for his life as officers presented him with evidence that contradicted his original claims, she said.
In her closing statement, Svec’s attorney, Jenifer Berki Merrill, argued the state hadn’t proven this was not a case of self-defense and that the physical evidence of did not match with Freeman’s narrative of events.
Berki Merrill reiterated the testimony of her own character witnesses the day before that Svec was a good guy who was never seen to yell at his wife and who loved his grandson too much to do such a thing in his presence.
She said Svec had been stuck in a corner as his wife brandished the knife and that he was in a “splitsecond” situation.
Berki Merrill said even men can be scared for their lives.
“Because you’re a male, you’re supposed to fight back,” she said characterizing her view of the prosecution’s claims. “Because you’re a male, you don’t have the same self-defense argument as a female would.”
Berki Merrill cited her client’s advanced age as a reason why he was afraid of his younger, “stronger” wife.
She also highlighted her client’s remorse for the shooting after he was told by police, during his interview, that his wife had died at the hospital.
“Ron was remorseful,” Berki Merrill said. “They grew up in an age where men don’t cry.
“He said ‘shoot me, maybe I’ll apologize in the great beyond.’ His whole demeanor changed.”
The jury is expected to begin deliberating following jury instructions at 9 a.m., June 13.
Closing arguments started nearly five hours later than planned as both sides and the court worked to perfect the voluminous instructions which will be given before the jury can begin deliberating