Brother acquitted in 2013 Jefferson shooting
In some ways, the circumstances are as old as those found in the fourth chapter of Genesis in which Cain slew his brother, Abel.
Robert Bauduin may not have recounted the Old Testament, but he quoted, in a letter he wrote from jail, the apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.”
The Bible verse seemed to serve as a prediction for the jurors.
Today, after about four hours of deliberations, a Washington County jury rendered a “not guilty” verdict in the case of Robert Bauduin, now 48, who was accused of fatally shooting his brother, Richard Jr., 47, of Colliers, W.Va., Nov. 30, 2013, in the Bauduin family home in Jefferson Township.
Robert Bauduin’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Rose Semple, this morning asked the jury to find her client fired a shotgun at his brother in self-defense and acquit him of a homicide charge.
Judge John DiSalle also instructed the jury of nine women and three men to consider the charges of third-degree murder (malicious killing) and voluntary manslaughter (killing without lawful justification).
Semple told the jury Robert Bauduin had gone to sleep on a couch in his bedroom in a drunken stupor after being in an agitated state, and claimed he did not have a clear recollection of the shooting. He even asked police at one point to hypnotize him so he could shed some light on it. Semple opined Robert Bauduin, who did not testify in the weeklong trial, feared an armed intruder had walked in on him and he fired a double-barreled shotgun because he was “very zealous about protecting himself. I am telling you, it is not murder.”
The judge’s explanation of the law came after the jurors and two female alternates listened to nearly 90 minutes of closing arguments. Both sides agree Nov. 30 in the Bauduin household was a day that included hours of drinking alcohol and arguing. At a preliminary hearing, Trooper Douglas Rush testified Robert Bauduin told him Richard Jr. accused him of “stealing dad’s nickels.”
Assistant District Attorney Leslie Ridge, however, requested a finding Robert Bauduin’s act was premeditated and therefore met the criterion of a conviction on one count of murder in the first degree. The prosecution was not seeking the death penalty, but first-degree murder carries a mandatory penalty of life imprisonment.
Ridge replayed the often-rambling conversation the brothers’ father, Richard Bauduin Sr., began from his home to the 911 emergency dispatch center in Washington. While trying to determine what is happening at the Bauduins’ home on Bethel Ridge Road, the dispatcher asked if anyone is hurt.
“Not yet,” the father responded, which Ridge called an “eerie premonition” of a gunshot heard on tape a few minutes later.
Robert Bauduin then tells the dispatcher, “I killed my brother.”
Ridge discounted any notion Richard Bauduin Jr. was armed, and she theorized Robert Bauduin was not sleeping, but lying in wait. She told the jury Robert Bauduin’s green sweatshirt was unscathed, while his brother’s T-shirt had a large tear. Robert Bauduin followed a trooper’s instructions to exit his home with his hands up and walk backward, instructions, she said, an intoxicated person would have difficulty following.
Rush later took a statement from the defendant.
“Never once during that interview does (Robert Bauduin) say, ‘My brother had a gun, and I had to defend myself.'” Ridge told the jury, also referencing 20-some letters Robert Bauduin wrote from jail that never mention his claim.
Ridge said the prosecution was “very, very disappointed” with the jury’s verdict.
“We felt the evidence supported a first-degree murder charge, and we’re very disappointed,” she said.
Robert Bauduin had been held in jail since his arrest.
Said Semple, “I know Mr. Bauduin is very thankful for the decision of the jury. The jury saw the facts, the true facts, and we believe that they came to the right decision.”