by Dave O'Brien
Record-Courier Reporter
Ravenna -- The fate of former Aurora resident James K. Warner, accused of killing his wife Carolyn in November 2005 in their Aurora home, rested with a jury as of April 28.
Portage County Common Pleas Judge John Enlow gave the case to jurors that afternoon after about a week of testimony in the retrial.
Warner was convicted of murder in April 2006 and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, but the 11th District Appeals Court in Warren overturned the conviction in June 2007.
Enlow sent the jury, consisting of eight women and four men, to deliberate at about 3:20 p.m. April 28. They had not returned a verdict by 5 p.m., and Enlow dismissed them for the day.
During his instructions, Enlow told the jury it could find Warner not guilty, guilty of murder or guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
One of the appeals court rulings that overturned the original verdict stated the court did not allow the jury in the first trial to consider voluntary manslaughter as a possible charge.
According to testimony, Warner allegedly stabbed his wife at least 21 times following an argument in their Parkview Drive home on Nov. 14, 2005.
Carolyn Warner's body was found wrapped in blankets on the kitchen floor, and James Warner was found unconscious on a couch off the garage. Police and the prosecution have alleged James Warner killed his wife and then attempted suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.
The defense contends Warner, a Vietnam War veteran, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and acted in self-defense and passion after being attacked by his wife with a skillet and knife.
Warner takes the stand
In testimony April 25, Warner said he was in "the heat of that battle" and "fighting for my life" when he delivered the fatal stab wound that killed his wife.
But he fell silent when a prosecutor asked him how his wife sustained 21 wounds during the altercation, admitting to only one wound, which was not documented.
Warner, who appeared demure and calm during his testimony, described himself as "the easiest-going person in the world."
Under examination by his attorney, Donald Butler, he described his military service in Vietnam, and how he found it "impossible" to adjust after returning home.
In the 1970s, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and had homicidal and suicidal thoughts that had "always been with me."
In 2003, he married Carolyn Warner, and the two had a troubled marriage. Twice, he filed for divorce, but the proceedings were never completed.
On Nov. 13, 2005, Warner said he drove to Cleveland to meet with his lawyer and check on his rental properties. When he walked back to get his car, he was told his wife had taken it.
He called his daughter to pick him up and take him home to his home on Parkview Drive in Aurora.
Later that night, his wife "snatched me out of the bed" and demanded to know where he had been, accusing him of going to see his former girlfriend, who was one of his tenants.
Warner also said she taunted him, telling him that she had performed a sex act with another man in Warner's car.
Warner said he left and complained to police, who put him in a hotel for the night. The next morning, he said, he returned home to get his belongings, planning to leave and file a third petition for divorce.
He said his wife again demanded to know his whereabouts and taunted him about her encounter with "her boyfriend." Warner said he taunted his wife about how her reputation of being "a tramp" had followed her when she moved from Georgia to Ohio.
His wife, he said, responded by picking up a skillet and hitting him with it. They struggled with the skillet, he said, and eventually Warner picked it up and hit his wife with it "to protect myself."
"All of a sudden, this intense anger hit. It was like I lost all control of me."
He added Carolyn Warner picked up a knife from the sink and the two struggled with it.
"The knife was between me and her," he said. "I'm doing all I can do to keep her from sticking me. I never had total control of the knife. It was between us, and I'm fighting for my life."
After Carolyn Warner was fatally stabbed, Warner said he picked up a rug and put it over her body, which was laying on the kitchen floor.
He paced around for a while, then drove to see relatives, giving them personal belongings. He then returned to his home, where he attempted suicide.
Assistant Portage County Prosecutor Eugene Muldowney, however, confronted Warner with previous testimony in which Warner stated he got control of the knife and stabbed his wife.
He confronted Warner with autopsy photos, asking him to admit causing each of the wounds.
They included the fatal one in which the knife went all the way through her body, and "blunt force trauma" to the back of his wife's head, which caused bleeding in her brain.
He pointed out that EMS workers, who were allegedly told by Warner that his wife hit him in the head with a hammer, were unable to document any injuries to his head, even though Warner said he still has the scar.
"If there was a struggle, how is it that Carolyn got 21 wounds and you got none?" Muldowney asked.
He also confronted Warner about the clothing he wore during the killing.
Warner testified that he was wearing jeans and a brown leather jacket, speculating that the jacket probably kept him from incurring stab wounds.
But Muldowney asked him how blood got on the pajama bottoms he was wearing when he was found unconscious in his home.
Prosecutors contend that Warner planned the murder of his wife while spending the night in the hotel room, and went to make amends to loved ones in Cleveland before returning home to carry out his plans.
"You had all night to think about what you were going to do," Muldowney said.
More testimony heard
Warner's brother Bobby was among the first witnesses called April 22 by Muldowney and Assistant Prosecutor Steve Michniak.
Bobby and his fiancee Diane Boyd, who also testified that day, called 911 on Nov. 14, 2005 after arriving at James Warner's home.
Both testified they had seen James Warner the previous day and thought he had been acting "strange."
"Bobby had said his brother was upset ... but he didn't think [James] was letting on what the real issue was," Boyd said.
"The following day, Bobby tried to call but he couldn't get an answer. He got concerned and started pacing the floors, saying it wasn't normal for the answering machine to come on and maybe we should go out there."
Once the couple arrived in Aurora from their Bedford Heights home, they received no answer at the door.
"I opened the door of one of the cars they had outside and found a garage door opener, so I hit it. The doors opened, and immediately when I see both engines of the cars in the garage running, Diane dialed 911," Bobby Warner said.
"She was holding me back, trying to keep me from going in. When they did get there and asked who was in the house, I said my brother and probably his wife since all the cars were there."
James was found unconscious on a couch of the home and Carolyn's body was found wrapped in blankets on the kitchen floor.
James was taken by helicopter to St. Vincent Hospital in Cleveland for treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The emergency workers who first responded to the scene testified April 22, as did Special Agent James Ciotti of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
Record-Courier reporters Diane Smith, Marci Piltz and Don Jovich contributed to this story.