Suspect has a history of weapons use, escape

Koliser's rap sheet includes drugs and assault.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The prime suspect in the slaying of a city police officer has a history of run-ins with the law.
Martin L. Koliser Jr., 31, was sentenced to six months in prison in 1992 after escaping from a bailiff in Girard and eluding police for days.
The then-19-year-old had just been arraigned on weapon and drug charges when he broke away from a bailiff who was escorting him back to his cell, ran from city hall and shook off police during a foot chase.
Four days later, he called police from a video store and offered to turn himself in. That was in August 1992.
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records show that Koliser was admitted to the Lorain Correctional Institute Nov. 10, 1992, and released Dec. 14,1992, for that escape. No reason was given as to why he was released early, but the department's Web site states that sentences may be reduced by as much as one-third if the inmate earns credit for good behavior.
Weapon, drug charges
The weapon and drug charges Koliser was initially arraigned on stem from an episode at a Shannon Road apartment complex.
Reports say residents of Churchill Terrace Apartments reported suspicious people in the building.
While questioning Koliser, who was in the parking lot of the apartment building, Girard officers spotted a loaded semiautomatic handgun on the floor of the car he was driving. They also found the remains of a marijuana cigarette.
Stabbing
In April 1997, Koliser, then 23, was sentenced to six years in prison after stabbing his 22-year-old roommate, Robert Hall, twice in the back of the neck. The assault took place during an argument at their Salem home Dec. 26, 1996.
A 24-year-old man who witnessed the fight between Koliser and his roommate said he saw Koliser swing a knife with a blade more than 6 inches long and two inches wide at Hall but did not see the actual stabbing.
Throughout his trial, Koliser maintained that the assault was in self-defense.
He was admitted to the Lorain Correctional Institution April 15, 1997, and was subsequently transferred to the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution, Lucasville, and then the Mansfield Correctional Institution. He was released on parole Dec. 12, 2002.
kubik@vindy.com