New trial possible for man convicted in Sault woman's death

The man convicted of killing a 22-year-old university student from Sault Ste. Marie could get a new trial, according to an Ohio media report.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports that a recent appeals court judge’s decision means James Earl Trimble will get the chance to argue for a new trial in the January, 2005 slaying of Kent State University student Sarah Positano.

Trimble murdered his girlfriend and her seven-year-old son before breaking into Positano’s duplex and taking the young Sault, Ontario woman hostage.

Trimble, who was convicted of the three murders and remains on death row, has long held that he was startled when a SWAT sniper entered Positano’s duplex after a deal had been reached to release her and that his gun went off in what his lawyer described during his 2005 trial as a hostage situation “botched” by police.

Police have denied this.

Reportedly at issue now is a 2012 email from a sheriff’s deputy regarding information about “a rogue SWAT officer” inside the home.

The Beacon Journal report quotes Positano’s father, Jim Positano, saying he has no remorse for Trimble.

But he also told the Beacon Journal that he and his wife have evidence of their own of a rogue sniper.

“My kid could have walked out of there if they hadn’t done what they did,” the Akron paper quotes Positano as saying.

A wrongful death suit against police by the Positanos was dismissed in 2009.

More on this story is available here and here.