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Prosecutor Dennis Watkins incensed by Claudia Hoerig show

Episode on A&E channel depicts trial from convicted murderer’s point of view

WARREN — Convicted Trumbull County murderer Claudia Hoerig and her trial in a Trumbull County courtroom were featured in a 30-minute television docudrama as the third episode of a new A&E -TV series called “Court Cam Presents Under Oath.”

The first showing of Hoerig’s story aired Wednesday evening and didn’t impress Trumbull County’s top lawman.

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said no one from his office was interviewed for this Arts & Entertainment network program, and he criticized the producers for giving Hoerig yet another platform.

“This kind of abuse of the truth should end,” Watkins said. “She got a fair trial and got what she deserved. The jury acted swiftly and she was guilty as hell. Sorry, Claudia, but it’s over.

“We don’t want to be a part of her lies and defaming good people.”

Producers of this series livestreamed Hoerig’s 2019 murder trial before Common Pleas Judge Andrew D. Logan in which jurors found her guilty of the 2007 murder of her husband Karl, an Air Force pilot and Iraq war hero. He was murdered in the Newton Falls home they shared.

The show comes from Hoerig’s point of view as she takes the witness stand in her own defense. The camera work brings alive the scenes in the large, ornate, third-floor historic courtroom in the downtown Warren courthouse. There are also shots of exterior areas of Newton Falls and the crime scene videos at the Hoerig home.

For almost a decade, Hoerig had escaped justice by fleeing to her homeland of Brazil. In February 2019, Logan sentenced her to serve 28 years to life in the Ohio Reformatory for Women.

Efforts made by Watkins and other officials within the U.S. State and Justice Departments extradited Hoerig back to Trumbull County in January 2018 to face murder and other felony charges.

Being interviewed for the A&E docudrama were Carl Hoerig’s best friend Gary Dodge, who was present at the home when Hoerig’s body was found; and investigators Michael Yannucci of the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office and Bill Boldin of the U.S. Marshals Service.

“Court Cam Presents Under Oath” was produced for A&E by Law and Order Productions with Dan Abrams, a court reporter who covered the O.J. Simpson trial, acting as narrator and host. Abrams also served as executive producer with Rachel Stockman, Karla Hidalgo and Shelley Schulze.

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