TOLEDO, Ohio — A Lucas County judge declared a mistrial Tuesday for the March 2022 death of Sarah Schulte, whose then-boyfriend is accused of stabbing and killing her in a domestic violence incident.
Police claimed Juan Garibaldo stabbed 39-year-old Schulte to death inside a west Toledo duplex on March 2, 2022. In an autopsy report, the Lucas County coroner said Schulte was stabbed multiple times in her head, face, neck and chest. She also had injuries to her hands which the coroner says shows she was trying to defend herself.
Garibaldo was arrested and charged with Aggravated Murder.
During recent court testimony, documents indicated a witness, one of Schulte's acquaintances alleged Schulte told them Garibaldo had harmed or killed Schulte's puppy two days prior to the homicide. Garibaldo's attorney stated the evidence was not admissible in court, as there was no evidence the dog had been killed and said the prosecution "failed to explain" how Garibaldo's allegedly having killed a dog would indicate he wanted to hurt Schulte specifically.
The defense attorney also argued the prosecution's only purpose in including evidence of Garibaldo allegedly killing a dog was to prejudice the jury against Garibaldo.
"...every juror loves puppies, and no juror would fail to condemn any person who would kill a puppy," the attorney said in a motion to file a mistrial.
The attorney claimed any unfair prejudice substantially outweighed the value of the evidence and would lead to an unfair trial.
The defense attorney then filed for mistrial July 10 and a Lucas County Judge declared a mistrial on Tuesday, according to court documents.
In a letter issued Monday, the prosecuting attorney argued the witness's testimony regarding Garibaldo allegedly killing Schulte's dog was not a grave enough court error to warrant a mistrial, suggesting the statement be struck from the record instead.
"A fair trial can still be had in this case, and the extreme measure or sanction of a mistrial would be far out of proportion to the error at the trial of the one sentence mention that the victim was concerned the defendant possibly may have harmed a dog," the prosecuting attorney said in the letter.
The prosecuting attorney also wrote that the state did not intentionally elicit the aforementioned statement from the witness and subsequently advised the witness the evidence was excluded and not to be discussed.
A Lucas County Judge declared Garibaldo's trial a mistrial Tuesday, according to court records.
Schulte's homicide, among several other domestic violence homicides, prompted Toledo Police to create Operation S.W.A.N., a project aimed at making arrests for those with outstanding felony and misdemeanor domestic violence warrants.
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