A weeklong wrongful death trial ended Friday with jurors awarding $30 million to the estate of Martha Darlene Roberts, who was brutally slain in April 2006 near the Alabama-Georgia line.

Vernon Roberts, as the representative of his late wife’s estate, sued Barbara Roberts, his ex-wife, and Dr. Robert John Schiess in U.S. District Court in Rome for punitive damages concerning the murder of his wife.

Upon hearing the jury’s decision, Darlene Roberts’ family hugged one another offering congratulations.

“I’m glad everything turned out in our favor, and I think justice was done,” said Vernon Roberts. “We can now get closure in our lives as a family.”

“It’s a great day for the family, though this doesn’t compensate for the loss,” said attorney Andy Davis, who represented Vernon Roberts. “They lived through some horrific events. Hopefully this sends a message that we won’t tolerate senseless killings.”

In closing arguments on Friday, Davis said the criminal case began with Schiess kidnapping Darlene Roberts, and her death was a direct result of that kidnapping.

“If he doesn’t kidnap her, she doesn’t die,” Davis told the jury.

Schiess’ lawyer referred to the civil case as a quasi-murder trial and argued that Schiess had stepped up for his part in the crime when he pleaded guilty to a lesser kidnapping charge — but did not murder Darlene Roberts.

Barbara Roberts, who was previously convicted of murder, was not in attendance and did not present a defense.

The jury

Prior to sending jurors out for deliberation, Judge Harold L. Murphy told them that if they awarded damages, it was up to them to come up with an amount.

Jurors Christopher Hitchler and Jerry Sanford said the $30 million was an abstract sum to be split between the two defendants.

“How do you put a price on human life?” asked jury foreman Hitchler.

The only question put to the court by jurors during deliberations was if there is a limit to the amount of punitive damages awarded under law — to which Murphy answered with a simple “no.”

The lack of actual testimony from the defendants, especially Schiess, during the trail led in part to the jury’s decision, Hitchler and Sanford said.

Schiess refused to answer any questions and gave a blanket assertion of his Fifth Amendment rights not to incriminate himself during a video deposition played before the court — even declining to answer when asked his address.

Another potentially confusing aspect of the trial, the jurors said, was that much of the evidence against Schiess came in the form of statements made by Barbara Roberts just after her arrest as to how the plot was orchestrated and his involvement.

Jurors were not allowed to hear any of that hearsay evidence as Barbara Roberts was a co-defendant in the civil case — however they did hear the statements she made to police concerning her own actions.

Vernon Roberts’ lawyers relied on physical evidence garnered during the criminal investigation as well as the testimony of investigators from several Alabama and Georgia agencies to present the case.

The criminal case

On the spring afternoon of April 6, 2006, Martha Darlene Roberts was found murdered on the edge of a pasture pond near County Road 941 in Cherokee County, Ala. — mere miles from her home.

Evidence eventually led police to Barbara Roberts and her sometimes live-in boyfriend Schiess. GBI agents arrested the duo weeks after the murder as they returned to the Atlanta airport from Texas, attending the funeral of Barbara Roberts’ mother.

Barbara Roberts was tried and convicted of murder and later sentenced to life without parole in prison in August 2008.

Schiess pleaded guilty in August 2008 to a lesser kidnapping charge in connection with murder. He was sentenced to 20 years to serve 3 in prison and was recently released from imprisonment, according to his family.