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ORLANDO, Fla. -- A millionaire developer who lived in the same central Florida neighborhood as Tiger Woods and other celebrities was convicted Saturday of murdering his wife in their mansion. The six jurors deliberated ...
Submit this storydigg reddit stumble ORLANDO, Fla. -- A millionaire developer who lived in the same central Florida neighborhood as Tiger Woods and other celebrities was convicted Saturday of murdering his wife in their mansion.
The six jurors deliberated more than 12 hours over two days before finding Bob Ward guilty of second-degree murder. The two-week trial took place in the same courthouse where the Casey Anthony case was tried this summer.
Ward was accused of shooting of his wife, Diane, in September 2009.The slaying happened days before she was to give a deposition in a lawsuit alleging that he blew millions of dollars on big houses and expensive cars while his business failed. Defense attorneys said that Ward's wife was suicidal, and that he was trying to stop her from killing herself. Ward never took the stand in his defense.
Kirkconnell said jurors may have been more likely to convict Ward as the result of Casey Anthony's trial. The Florida mother was acquitted this summer of killing her 2-year-old daughter in a verdict that surprised followers of the case.
"What happened to Casey Anthony certainly makes it more difficult for any defendant, probably anywhere in the state of Florida, to get a fair trial," Kirkconnell said. "I think there is a widely held belief, or prejudice, based on the Casey Anthony case because people may have felt that that verdict was not the proper verdict."
During closing arguments Thursday, prosecutor Robin Wilkinson used Ward's own words against him by playing a 911 recording in which he told a dispatcher five times, "I just shot my wife."
After Saturday's verdict, Wilkinson said she felt sorry for the Wards' two daughters, who had lost a mother and were now losing a father to prison. But she said justice had been served.
The Wards were under tremendous stress from the bankruptcy of his company and a lawsuit over his business practices. A broken wine glass, a wine stain on the patio and a similar stain on Ward's shirt indicated they had been fighting before Diane Ward died, Wilkinson told jurors during closing arguments.
Bob Ward's company, Land Resource, filed for bankruptcy almost a year before the shooting. He was being sued by an insurance company that accused him of taking more than $20 million from the sale of lots in subdivisions he was building in Tennessee in 2007. The insurance company, which had issued bonds for the subdivisions, said Ward should have used the money to improve the subdivisions, but instead paid off debts and went on a spending spree.
The lawsuit says the Wards used the money to buy their 8,800-square-foot mansion in Isleworth, the same neighborhood where Woods had the notorious SUV crash that revealed his adultery and derailed his golf career.
The lawsuit also says the Wards paid off loans totaling nearly $2.5 million for two houses in Georgia, bought a house on the Georgia coast for $750,000 and purchased several vehicles, including a $140,000 Mercedes-Benz sedan. The lawsuit was dismissed last month because of a lack of action by either side.
Ward's behavior after his arrest also raised eyebrows. A jailhouse video of a visit from his daughter and sister-in-law just days after the shooting showed him cracking jokes and laughing. But the Wards' two daughters have supported their father and were in the courtroom during the trial.
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A millionaire developer who lived in the same central Florida neighborhood as Tiger Woods and other celebrities was convicted Saturday of murdering his wife in their mansion. The six...
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A millionaire developer who lived in the same central Florida neighborhood as Tiger Woods and other celebrities was convicted Saturday of murdering his wife in their mansion. The six...
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20 minutes ago (7:06 PM) Do not underestimate the Penal System of the Sunshine State . We have punishment down to a science. This fat cat will be at the mercy of the lowest of the low because the convicts run the system. He will pray for death evreyday and his crime will be before him always . Guys like this dont fare well in Prison. The best he can hope for is Protective Custody ie Life in a cage 23 hrs a day/ Far cry from the fairway and gated communities-well I guess he will still be in a gated community. Life w out Parole is a more punitive punishment than death. It is a little bit of death evreyday-even 20 years is an eternity which he will not survive in that jungle.
2 hours ago (5:16 PM) Of course this guy will never get the death penalty. Second degree murder, yet his wife is still dead by a gunshot! Where are the pundits calling for his execution?
42 minutes ago (6:44 PM) Life in prison w/out parole is an apropriate sentenance in Fl. We have a brutal prison system here full of predators licking their chops waiting for this new fish to come in . I assure you that after working a short stint in Max security many years ago, That this guy will die a little every day. He will suffer sodomy, extortion, assault, ect-his sentenace is a living death. Had he got the death penalty, the taxpayers of florida would be paying millions in apppeals . He will get his punishment I assure you . Florida, great place to visit dont get busted . Execution is too merciful. Todays inmates dont fear it like they did OLd Sparky. He got the death penalty in a way-a death of a thousand cuts-evereyday till he leaves prison feet first.
3 hours ago (4:08 PM) Great now dont let him "buy " his way out , execute him and it will be over , just think of all the money we can save ..
35 minutes ago (6:51 PM) Thats the whole thing-the money. These killers cost the state millions in mandatory appeals that the county has to pay for. Far cheaper to give them life without. Florida prisons are medeival at best . Nice thought just execute him but the constitution gets in the way. Now LIfe W OUT Parole is a true living lingering death sentenance. He will have some interesting company in ther w him and they cant wait. This Fat Cat was a BIG SHOT but is a maggot now. Execution to mericful like putting a dog to sleep-Not like the days of OLD SPARKY. I used to be for the death penalty but it is bankrupting our counties. Life w out is living death He does look like he will be defending himself or enjoy the life he had before.
4 hours ago (3:07 PM) When the defense lawyers said it was a good sign that they asked to have some evidence, the gun and the yard stick measuring the 18" away that was said to be the distance the gun was fired, they said that was good for defense.
I thought it was a jury doing its job since the defense claimed she shot herself or accidentally in a struggle. I also felt they would derive from it he shot her deliberately which they did.
Which is what the CA jury should have done. PULL THE EVIDENCE. Even if it was still a not guilty verdict they would have done their job. Their job was not being sequestered for 6 weeks and coming back with a verdict, it was to deliberate and go over evidence.
Recently a lawyer said that if people do not like the verdicts juries give, guilty or not guilty, stop trying to get out of jury duty and deliver verdicts you believe are right.
30 minutes ago (6:56 PM) BIG difference. Florida prison is Hell on Earth-sodomy extortion assault , degradation-allin the 1st week Much more punishmnet than the death penalty and no millions in mandatory appeals which the county must pay. He will wish he was in california but he is Not......
6 hours ago (1:42 PM) The Casey Anthony defense. Wow, I guess for now it is at least original. However, it is like a slap in the face to the jurors who decided the case. Actually both sets of jurors.
I guesws he would fall under the label of job creator, one of those the repubs wish to protect. One of those we are supposed to trust to do the right thing. Yeah, right. I want to bet this guy does not get a long sentence, he deserves nothing less than life. It was his greed that cost his children's mother their life, for that he should pay.
5 hours ago (2:33 PM) First sentence is sensible and probably much of the reason why people try to avoid jury duty. Interjection of politics in the second sentence is simply foolish.
6 hours ago (1:10 PM) The lawyers argument that he won't get a fair trial cause of the Casey Anthony case is wrong. That case was completely different and involved the murder of a child not a spouse. Judging by the events [and I'm not saying he did it cause I haven't been following the case] he did have a motive; she was gonna testify against him. If she was suicidal then he would have got her help before, there would have been documents saying so.
5 hours ago (2:14 PM) now that i didn't know. That recording just throws out his whole defense of my wife was suicidal and i was trying to stop her.
28 minutes ago (6:58 PM) we really know how to accomodate prisoners . One of the most brutal systems on earth Inmates run the show. My prediction for this guy ?
8 hours ago (11:41 AM) I am so PROUD of the verdict, I followed this and always knew he was GUILTY, sorry for his daughters who now have no mother and going to have very limited access to him!!!
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