Jury Find Doretta Scheffield Guilty of Murder in Husband's Death; Sentencing set for Oct. 13
One by one the 12 jurors — six men and six women — answered "Guilty" when asked separately how they voted.
A Geauga County jury Tuesday convicted Doretta Scheffield of aggravated murder for killing her husband in 2011.
After deliberating several hours last Friday and all day Monday, it took jurors roughly an hour Tuesday morning to find Doretta, 64, guilty of aggravated murder, murder and tampering with evidence in connection with the death of her 53-year-old husband, Randy Scheffield, on Dec. 27, 2011.
After Geauga County Common Pleas Court Judge David Fuhry read the jury’s verdict on each charge, defense attorney Richard Drucker asked the judge to poll jurors as to each charge. One by one the 12 jurors — six men and six women — answered “Guilty” when asked separately how they voted.
Fuhry then revoked Doretta’s bond and remanded her into the custody of the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 13 at 1:30 p.m. She faces a potential sentence of life in prison without parole, although Fuhry could sentence her to life in prison with an opportunity for parole after 20, 25 or 30 years.
Drucker informed the court the defense likely would be filing some post-verdict motion in an attempt to undue Doretta’s conviction.
“This was a real team effort by everyone involved to see that justice was served,” said Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz. “Sheriff Dan McClelland and Chief Deputy Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand provided dedication to see this case through. The perseverance by the detectives, the patience of the Scheffield family and the hard work by the prosecution team was outstanding.”
Randy, who owned Scheffield Lawns Inc., a Newbury Township landscaping business, was found unconscious in his bed. It was later discovered he had been shot in the back of the head with a .22-caliber pistol.
Doretta told investigators she was out running errands most of the day and came home around 4 p.m. and thought he was simply napping. She claimed at approximately 9:45 p.m. she went back in the residence to make dinner and found Randy still in bed, unresponsive, bleeding from the ear.
Doretta’s 34-year-old son, David “Tig” Rowles, called 9-1-1 about a possible heart attack.
Prosecutors had argued during a nine-day trial that Doretta murdered her husband for financial reasons; namely, she wanted to take over his business.
Doretta worked as a bookkeeper at the landscaping company that Randy founded prior to their marriage and where David worked as well. She had taken over bookkeeping duties from Randy’s mother and had begun to divert money to David and her daughter, Elizabeth Rowles, prosecutors argued.
Prosecutors also introduced testimony from an Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation investigator that Doretta had utilized a company account to fraudulently direct benefits to Elizabeth.
While Fuhry would not allow prosecutors to introduce evidence of any convictions, both Doretta and Elizabeth were convicted in August 2013 of workers’ compensation fraud, according to Geauga County Court of Common Pleas records.
Both sides agreed Doretta had breakfast with Randy at their home the morning of Dec. 27, between 7 and 7:30 a.m. Prosecutors had introduced evidence that Randy went to the McDonald’s in Middlefield earlier that morning and had bought breakfast. They also agree she was away from the home between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Prosecutors presented evidence from a forensics pathologist and deputy medical examiner with the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office that Randy died as early as 8:30 a.m. and no later than 9:30 a.m.
The defense countered with their own forensic expert, 89-year-old Dr. Werner Spitz, who has worked on a number of high-profile cases, including the investigations of the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. Spitz testified Randy’s death was around 2 p.m. — during the period Doretta was gone from the home.
But the prosecution’s expert, Dr. Erica Armstrong, was recalled to refute Spitz’s testimony.
The defense rested its case Sept. 25 without Doretta taking the stand.
On Monday, jurors informed Fuhry they had reached a verdict on two of three charges against Doretta, but were deadlocked on a third before they asked to go home for the night. Defense counsel and prosecutors presumed jurors were deadlock on the most serious charge — aggravated murder — which required a finding Doretta planned and plotted Randy’s death.
Fuhry told the attorneys Monday he believed jurors would “give it a good try” when the resumed deliberations on Tuesday.
“This jury does impress me as being very hard working and intense,” he said Monday. “They took almost no breaks, they didn’t want anything for lunch, they didn’t want any water, they didn’t want any snacks, they didn’t want anything — a half hour lunch, 15-minute break, back in here and all day.”
In March, Doretta, along with David and his girlfriend, Gina Battaglia, 31, both of Newbury, were all arrested and charged in connection to Randy’s murder.
Flaiz previously said he believes all three defendants planned, carried out and covered up Randy’s murder.
However, Fuhry would not allow the state to introduce any evidence regarding any alleged conspiracy at Doretta’s trial.
Battaglia is scheduled to be tried Nov. 3 in Fuhry’s courtroom. David’s case is set for trial Feb. 1, 2016, in the courtroom of Geauga County Common Pleas Court Judge Forrest Burt.
