SLEEPWALKING MURDER TRIAL
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PHOENIX (Court TV) — After eight hours of deliberations a Phoenix jury rejected Scott Falater's sleepwalking defense and found him guilty of first degree murder in the brutal slaying of his wife.

Jurors believed that Falater, 43, planned to kill his wife Yarmila when he stabbed her 44 times on January 16, 1997. Falater stabbed her, 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.

The Falaters, defense attorney Michael Kimerer argued, had a loving marriage for 20 years and there was no evidence of significant marital strife at the time of the killing. Kimerer claimed that the Falater's killing of Yarmila was so inexplicable that the only logical explanation was that Falater was sleepwalking during the incident.

But during the four-week trial, prosecutors scoffed at Falater's sleepwalking defense. Through expert testimony and the eyewitness account of a neighbor, 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.

But some legal critics said prosecutor Juan Martinez was not able to clearly establish motive. While he suggested the Falaters argued over religion and having more children, the Falaters' friends and relatives testified that the marriage was a happy one. Jurors' questions during deliberations suggested they were looking for a possible motive and premeditation.

One of the questions submitted to Judge Ron Reinstein read: "Did Yarmila have any close family that she might have confided in? If so, why didn't we hear from her side of the family?"

Jurors also wanted to know whether or not Falater had taken a lie-detector test and the test results.

Falater testified that he kept a hunting knife in his car in case of an emergency which led jurors to ask what kind of emergency he thought would require a hunting knife.

The jurors also asked whether the bloody clothes in the Tupperware container were the same clothes that were in the container prior to the killing, which might indicate planning.

Judge Reinstein told jurors he could not answer their questions and that they had to rely on the evidence submitted at trial. He said that witnesses could not be brought back to the stand and that Falater was not given a lie-detector test because the results would not have been admissible at trial. Falater reportedly offered to take a lie-detector test after his arrest.

Falater could face the death penalty when he is sentenced on a later date. A pre-sentencing investigation hearing will be held August 20.

— Bryan Robinson