Robert Seman Jr. who was set for trial this week for an arson fire that killed a girl he was accused of raping and her grandparents has jumped to his death from a fourth-floor balcony at a courthouse.
The surveillance video by the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office shows deputies walking alongside Seman, wearing a white dress shirt and beige pants before he jumped from the fourth-floor balcony. He was being escorted to a holding cell by authorities after a brief hearing at the Mahoning County Courthouse in Youngstown when he committed suicide around 9:30 a.m.
The 48-year-old allegedly faced the death penalty if convicted in the deaths 10-year-old Corinne Gump, and her grandparents, 63-year-old William Schmidt and 61-year-old Judith Schmidt that happened back in 2015. According to court documents, seman set the house on fire because Gump was scheduled to testify against him in a rape case.
Investigators also had determined that Seman used gasoline to start fire at the home. Burns were found on him after officials arrested him, prosecutors who handled the case testified.
Seman’s trial was set to begin Tuesday in Portage County after his attorneys successfully argued that he couldn’t get a fair trial in Youngstown because of pretrial publicity. Tom Zena, Seman’s attorney, had told the station that his client’s suicide was utterly unexpected and that he had maintained his innocence.
“Every witness we talked to in preparation for the case, they didn’t know why he wasn’t pleading guilty or asking for some sort of plea, so this is very telling,” Assistant Mahoning County Prosecutor Dawn Cantalamessa said.
Lisa Cappitti, Corinne’s stepmother, had mixed emotions when she learned Seman’s death.
“It’s sad,” she told the Youngstown Vindicator. “There’s no justice at all. We don’t know what to feel.”
The courthouse workers looked stunned as Seman remained motionless on the floor after jumping a 4 floor high building. He died minutes later.