YOUNGSTOWN 2 of Koliser's friends called before court

One man was placed on probation, and the other was released from prison.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two men who authorities say helped Martin L. Koliser Jr. in the hours after Koliser killed a Youngstown policeman were back in court Wednesday.
Lemar Butler, 22, of Stratmore Avenue, was placed on five years' probation by Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Butler had pleaded guilty in September to one count of attempted obstruction of justice.
Judge Evans granted early release from prison for Jonathan Kuzan, 23, of Youngstown, who was serving a two-year sentence for obstructing justice. He has served about four months of the sentence.
Under terms of their plea agreements with prosecutors, Kuzan and Butler were to testify against Koliser at his trial, if they were needed. Neither was called as a witness by prosecutors.
Koliser was recently convicted and sentenced to death on several felony counts, including aggravated murder, for the April 2003 ambush shooting death of Patrolman Michael Hartzell.
Kuzan and Butler were linked to Forrest A. Rupp Jr., another man who was imprisoned for aiding Koliser after the shootings. Rupp was granted early release last week.
What happened
Rupp picked up Koliser at the WRTA bus station downtown, hours after Hartzell was killed, and took him to Kuzan's house. While there, Koliser took a shower and put on clean clothes.
When police questioned Kuzan later, he initially denied that Koliser had been there and denied having his dirty clothes, which had been placed in a trash bag and thrown into the garbage. He eventually told police the truth.
Rupp later drove Koliser to a truck stop in Austintown Township, where he gave Koliser his car, which Koliser drove to Florida. Rupp called Butler, who paid for Rupp to take a taxi back to Youngstown.
"That was his crime," Butler's lawyer, Robert J. Rohrbaugh II, said. "He was basically an aider to the aiders."
Like Kuzan, Butler was initially not forthcoming with police about what he'd done, said assistant prosecutor Jeffrey Limbian.
"I'm sorry about everything that happened," Butler said, expressing his sympathy to Hartzell's family. "What it boils down to is that the Youngstown Police Department are the same people that protect me and my family."
bjackson@vindy.com