LEBANON - Judge Neal Bronson has set a hearing to handle motions on whether Ryan Widmer should get a new trial or be acquitted.

The hearing is set for March 23 in Warren County Common Pleas Court.

After two mistrials, a third jury convicted Widmer, 30, of Mason, of murder in the 2008 drowning of his wife, Sarah, 24, in Hamilton Township.

Since the Feb. 15 verdict, Widmer's lawyers have filed paperwork alleging that the judge may have been misled into keeping a biased juror on the panel that convicted Widmer. They also allege jurors shifted the burden of proof to the defense, and that there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction. They also claim "reasonable minds" would not have reached the same conculsion that jurors reached.

Prosecutors haven't filed a formal reply yet; they have until March 18 to do so.

But, in general, the new Warren County prosecutor, David Fornshell, who took office after the Widmer conviction, has stated that he thinks the defense claims are unsupported, and that there was sufficient evidence to prove Widmer's guilt.