Delay is sought in Koliser case

YOUNGSTOWN -- Lawyers for convicted cop killer Martin L. Koliser Jr. are asking that Koliser's execution be delayed while they appeal his conviction and death sentence.
Koliser, 30, of Boardman, was convicted in November of killing Youngstown Patrolman Michael Hartzell during the early hours of April 29.
Hartzell was investigating an earlier shooting in which Koliser was the suspect.
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum set Koliser's execution for March 9, 2004.
Attorneys John B. Juhasz and Mary Jane Stephens, who were appointed by Judge Krichbaum to represent Koliser in a mandatory appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, filed documents Monday asking Judge Krichbaum to postpone the execution to give them more time to prepare the appeal.
Without a stay of execution, Koliser would be put to death months before legal briefs in his appeal would even be due, and before the high court could hold a hearing on the appeal, Juhasz and Stephens wrote.