Schwander found guilty of second degree murder
TRAVERSE CITY -- The jury has reached a verdict in Robert Schwander's murder trial. Schwander was found guilty of 2nd Degree Murder. Sentencing has been scheduled for November 18th.
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The Defense rested its case Wednesday morning. During Robert Schwander's testimony, he told the jury that an argument with Carly Lewis got physical on June 2. The teen told the jury they were fighting and at one point he put Carly in a "Half Nelson" until her knees buckled.
Schwander also testified that he buried Carly in a 2 1/2 foot shallow grave between the hut he was living in and the St. Vincent building. He said he moved her body after a week from that grave to near the sand pile where her body was found.
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Robert Jensen Schwander, the teen accused of killing Carly Lewis is back on the stand Wednesday and is expected to tell the jury his account of what happened the day Carly died.
Schwander began is testimony on Tuesday afternoon.
Dressed in a light green shirt, Schwander calmly told jurors he killed Carly, and that it was an accident. From there, it was back to the beginning. Schwander explained that he became homeless after his parents kicked him out of the house in December for sneaking out late at night.
Schwander testified that living on his own was difficult. He said he moved from friend's home to friend's home and even spent the night in a homeless shelter. He said he lost 15 pounds because he wasn't getting enough food.
He also told jurors that one family kicked him out after they found a bong in the home. Schwander knew Carly's brother Mitchell, and eventually moved into the Lewis home. Schwander said at first he and Carly didn't get along, but that they eventually became friends, and even smoked marijuana together.
Earlier Tuesday, before resting its case the prosecution called Thomas Holcolmb, a crime scene investigator to the stand.
He testified that he was the one using a probe at the crime scene to help find Carly's body. He testified that it was likely the probe put holes in the garbage bag Carly was wrapped in. Holcolmb also testified that no clear fingerprints were found on the scissors that were found on the scene and could have been used kill Carly.
In cross examination the defense criticized Holcolmb for only taking 16 pictures of the body wrapped in a plastic bag and 179 of the area around the crime scene.
Nicole Graham, a forensic scientist with Michigan State Police testified that Carly's blood was found on scissors found at the scene but not on a knife that Schwander had in his possession.
On Friday a local teacher testified that he exchanged letters with Schwander and even visited him in jail. He said that Schwander talked about evil spirits taking over him.
Schwander's close friends tearfully testified against him telling the juror he asked them to lie about his whereabouts during the two weeks Carly Lewis was missing.
Even though the prosecution hadn't finished with it's witness testimony, the defense was allowed to call its medical examiner to testify.
Washtenaw County Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Bader Cassin testified that the stab wounds found on Carly's body did not kill her, and that it is possible she was strangled. That counters the prosecution's claim that Carly died from one of the ten stab wounds found on her body.
