Arthur Schirmer received unhappy news Tuesday Jan. 22, 2013 when a jury of his peers delivered the guilty of murder in first degree judgement according to Lancaster Online. The former "pastor awaiting trial in the 1999 death of his first wife was convicted Tuesday of fatally bludgeoning his second wife nine years later" (source). This verdict was handed down after the prosecutor argued that "he clubbed Betty Schirmer on the head with a crowbar, then loaded her into their car and staged a low-speed accident in an effort to conceal the crime." Schirmer's attorney argued "that while his client cheated on Betty, 56, he had no motive to kill her." All of this happened while the pastor is awaiting a second trial on murder charges of his first wife (case from 1999).
With the first trial over one wonders how the second will be impacted with this news - whether or not this verdict will play a role or if it will be kept out of court. The prosecutor in this case actually referred to Schirmer as the "sinister minister". The former minister insists that his first wife Jewel fell down the stairs while cleaning the house. He told authorities that he found the vacumn cleaner cord wrapped around his first wife Jewel's leg when he found her. Just like his second wife Betty, Jewel suffered "forceful, hard blows to the back of the head. It was murder, and it was going to happen again," which was part of the prosecutor's closing argument in Betty Schirmer's trial (source).
The video above talks about the conviction. Feel free to leave your own comment below.
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