Forbidden Love: Steven Colver and Tylar Witt
Verdict and Sentencing
Dain Weiner and Steven Colver
After less than a day of deliberations, the jury came back with its verdict on June 15, 2011 — exactly two years after Joanne Witt's corpse was discovered. The jury found Steven Colver guilty of first-degree murder, with special circumstances of lying in wait and of killing a witness to the statutory rape. The special circumstances rendered Colver ineligible for parole.
After the verdict, Joanne's father Norbert Witt and Steven's mother Jan Colver shared a hug and a cry in front of the courthouse. They had sat across the gallery aisle from each other throughout the proceedings. The trial had taken an emotional toll on both sides.
The Tylar Witt and Steven Colver were formally sentenced on August 12. He received a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole and she was sentenced to 15 years to life Friday.