SLEEPWALKING MURDER TRIAL
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PHOENIX (Court TV) — Jurors who convicted Scott Falater of first degree murder Friday did not find his sleepwalking murder defense absurd at all. Some jurors believed Falater was sleepwalking during most his wife's killing but not through the entire attack.

"We didn't think that a sleepwalker could perform the sequence of detailed events the way [previous prosecution witness and Falater's neighbor] Greg Koons was able to observe them," said jury foreperson Mike Riley in a post-verdict press conference. "The deciding factor for us was that it seemed improbable that a person could be unconscious during that whole time."

After eight hours of deliberations a Phoenix jury Friday rejected Falater's sleepwalking defense and found him guilty of first degree murder in the brutal slaying of his wife Yarmila. On January 16, 1997, Falater, 43, stabbed his wife 44 times, dragged her into their pool and then held her head under water.

Falater, who has a history of sleepwalking, admitted killing his wife but claimed that he was sleepwalking at the time and lacked the intent to kill. Falater's defense claimed that he was not consciously aware of his actions when he killed Yarmila and had no reason to commit murder.Yarmila, the defense said, was killed when she tried to awaken a sleepwalking Falater while he was trying to fix a pool water pump with a hunting knife.

But during the four-week trial, prosecutors scoffed at Falater's sleepwalking defense. Through expert testimony and the eyewitness account of Koons, prosecutors undermined Falater's sleepwalking theory. Prosecution experts testified Falater's actions — such as changing his bloody clothes, putting them in Tupperware and placing Tupperware in the trunk of his car — suggest that he was not sleepwalking at all during the attack and that a sleepwalker could not have performed such complicated tasks.

One juror said that he believed that Falater may have been sleepwalking when he stabbed his wife but woke up before he drowned her. Juror John Merrill believed that Falater stabbed Yarmila while he was sleepwalking, then woke up. Realizing what he had done, Falater, Merrill suspected, tried to cover up his role in the slaying.

"I think he could have been sleepwalking when he stabbed her," Merrill said. "The realm of possibility exists. We don't know that he couldn't have been. I think he woke up and said, 'Oh no! Look at what I've done.' There were too many things he had to do in a short amount of time. It just wasn't believable that he was sleepwalking when he did all those things."

Merrill added that he did not think Falater would have been convicted without Koons' eyewitness testimony.

Juror Denise Aguirre said she focused on the fact that Falater returned to his wounded wife after the stabbing and drowned her in the pool. She said that she just could not believe that a sleepwalker would have returned to a victim after an initial attack.

"I think he panicked. ... Him coming back out to the body and then him stepping over the body told me he wasn't sleepwalking," Aguirre said. "He still had to think about drowning her."

The jurors also said that they struggled with the expert testimony in the trial because each side had drastically different theories. While jury foreperson Riley said he found Falater believable on the stand, another juror thought he was too rehearsed and not entirely credible.

Falater could face the death penalty when he is sentenced at a later date. Prosecutors said they may consider dropping their request for the death penalty and consider a life sentence for Falater. A pre-sentencing investigation hearing will be held August 20.

— Bryan Robinson