Verdict in Kalmio Trial - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Verdict in Kalmio Trial

After dozens of prosecution witnesses over a full week in the courtroom, jurors were convinced: Omar Kalmio did it.

The jury returned verdicts of "guilty" against Kalmio in four murders in Minot two years ago.

And they came to the decisions in a hurry.

Shaun Sipma has the story from Northwest District Court in Minot.

It took just three hours of deliberating following a full week of testimony last week where 52 witnesses were call on to testify.

[Court Recorder] "Guilty of murder in the deaths of Sabrina Zephier."

The jury found Kalmio guilty of murder for Sabrina Jolene, and Dillon Zephier and Jeremy Longie on the morning of January 28th, 2011.

(Judge Doug Mattson, Northwest District Judge) Held without bond at the Ward County Jail.

The guilty verdict came after a morning of closing arguments from the prosecution and defense.

(Kelly Dillon, Ward County Assistant State's Attorney) "Somebody hated her enough to look her in the eye and shoot her in the face."

Prosecutor Kelly Dillon spent more than an hour and a half recounting the testimony from witnesses and the evidence.

Dillon says the testimony drew a clear picture of abuse and intimidation by Omar to Sabrina, the custody battle where Omar wanted their baby to by raised in Minnesota by his mother and sister.

The direct threats that were send by Omar to Sabrina through text messages and those overheard by others.

(Kelly Dillon, Ward County Assistant State's Attorney) "And what did he say, I'm going to break a bottle over your head and leave you for dead."

Dillon referenced the calls to former Job Corps Classmates looking for an undocumented gun two months before the murder.

Witnesses that testified seeing Kalmio outside his sleeping quarters near Williston late on the 27th in white pickup with his brother at 12:45, followed by the truck driver seeing a similar white pickup parked just a block from Sabrina's Apartment at 3 a.m.

Then there were the jailhouse confessions from people who spent time with Kalmio in the Ward County Jail and Grand Forks Jail.

Dillon equated all of the circumstantial evidence from 2 witnesses to a 14,000 piece jigsaw puzzle.

When all of the pieces are put together it creates a very clear picture.

Defense Attorney Thomas Glass took direct aim at each piece of testimony offered as evidence.

From the jailhouse confessions.

(Thomas Glass, Defense Attorney) "He was getting pressured by the feds and state law enforcement to give them information."

Glass also called into question the testimony given by those closest to Sabrina who some themselves had criminal backgrounds.

The main concentration from Glass came in the mismatching timelines given by Witnesses and the complete lack of evidence putting Omar Kalmio in Minot at the time of the murders.

But as the circumstantial evidence stacked up it was enough for the jury to convict.

For the Zephier and Longie Family it was a bitter sweet victory.

(Terri Zephier, Sabrina's Sister) "Happy everything's done with, they can rest in piece now. Finally got who's responsible for it when it comes down to it."

(Jerry Longie, Jeremy Longie's Dad) "We're really glad that justice got done for my son Jeremy and the Zephiers that he's behind bards where he won't be hurting anybody else. Deserved every bit of what he had coming."

A presentencing investigation was order by Doug Mattson and Kalmio is being had without bail at the Ward County Jail.

At the Ward County Courthouse, Shaun Sipma KX News.