Credit: Butler County Jail
Credit: Butler County Jail
“(I felt) total shock, but shock in a good way because we all knew the facts of the case and I’m just still in shock from all of it. I just don’t even know...” Bobby Caldwell’s wife, Candice Caldwell, told the Dayton Daily News after the verdict was read. “My husband would be happy for us as a family and how strong we’ve been through all of this and held it all together.”
Roberts was charged in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in connection to the Aug. 15, 2017, shooting death of Robert “Bobby” Caldwell.
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Prosecutors laid out a series of events that they said led to Bobby Caldwell’s death which included multiple states. They said Roberts tried killing Bobby Caldwell earlier that month in Greene County but wasn’t successful. Prosecutors said that Roberts went to Tennessee after the attempt but was picked up by Tawnney Caldwell shortly thereafter and they then went to Kentucky where a gun was purchased from her stepfather. They said the two also went to Dayton where they got another gun from Roberts’ brothers.
Roberts went to the Cornerstone Building on Linden Avenue in Riverside where he waited for Bobby Caldwell to emerge from a court-ordered counseling session with his children.
“Sterling shot Bobby again and again and again, causing Bobby to fall to the ground,” U.S. Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Amy Smith said. Smith added that Bobby Caldwell’s children were with him and “within feet” of the bullets.
Meanwhile, defense attorney Donald Malarcik shifted much of the blame onto Tawnney Caldwell during his opening statements. He said that Tawnney Caldwell hired, coerced and/or threatened someone else into killing Bobby Caldwell and that it wasn’t Sterling Roberts.
Tawnney Caldwell, 37, of Centerville, was sentenced in July 2021 in federal court to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to interstate stalking. Her mother, Chandra Harmon, of Burlington, Kentucky, was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison in August 2021 after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting witness tampering.
“It’s mind-blowing, especially considering the fact that my husband carried no hate toward any of them at all, never wanted anything bad to happen to anybody,” Candice Caldwell said Wednesday outside the Walter H. Rice Federal Building and US Courthouse in downtown Dayton. “He was a genuine man, he was my best friend, not somebody that deserved to die. I am just beyond grateful for the justice system and that justice was served today.”
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Marlarcik told the Dayton Daily News after the verdict that the defense respects the decision of the jury, saying that this was a “really, really difficult case,” and that they put a lot of time and effort into their choice.
He also highlighted the government’s decision not to seek the death penalty, saying that was a big win for the defense.
Candice Cadwell said that she’s against the death penalty and was relieved it was removed from the case as well.
“But I am absolutely OK with life behind bars, for sure,” she said.
Roberts is expected to be sentenced by Judge Thomas Rose at a later date.
