KOLISER TRIAL Court hears taped confession

At one point during the phone call, Koliser started singing the song 'Cop Killer.'
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Martin L. Koliser Jr. shot Youngstown Patrolman Michael Hartzell because he wanted to "go out like a warrior."
He wanted Donell Rowe to die.
And he wanted to read all about it in the newspaper.
Prosecutors say those were among the statements Koliser made to his friend, Forrest A. Rupp Jr., in a recorded telephone conversation the day after Rowe and Hartzell were shot in Youngstown. During testimony Tuesday in Koliser's trial, prosecutors played an audiotape of that conversation between Koliser, who had fled to Florida, and Rupp, who was in Youngstown. Rupp recorded the conversation to assist the police who were investigating the shootings.
Koliser, 30, of Boardman, is on trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. He is charged with aggravated murder with death-penalty specifications in Hartzell's death and with attempted murder in the wounding of Rowe.
The shootings happened within two hours early April 29. Rowe was shot during an argument with Koliser outside the Casaloma Gardens bar on Youngstown's West Side. Hartzell was shot two hours later as he sat in his police car on West Federal Street.
Jurors were allowed to look at a transcribed copy of the conversation while they listened, because the tape is difficult to understand.
Koliser asked where Rowe was shot, and Rupp said it was in the chest.
"Damn. I tried to get him in his heart," Koliser said.
What he asked
Koliser could be heard promising to return to Youngstown. He asked Rupp to "keep me a newspaper" and later asked if he was "all over the TV."
Koliser said in the conversation that he stopped his car, "got out and did what I had to do," referring to shooting Hartzell. "I'm going out like a warrior," he said.
At one point during the phone call, Koliser started singing, "Cop Killer," a song by rap artist Ice-T.
Rupp is serving a three-year prison sentence for obstructing justice. He lied to police about his involvement with helping Koliser in the hours after the shootings.
Wearing his jail uniform, leg shackles and wrist chains, he told jurors of how Koliser called him within hours of the shootings and asked for help.
Rupp said he picked up Koliser at the WRTA bus station downtown around 8 a.m. Koliser was covered in mud because he'd been hiding in a muddy, wooded area near the Mahoning River to avoid authorities who were looking for him.
Once Koliser was in the car, Rupp said Koliser told him that he'd just shot a police officer.
"His head popped," Rupp recalled Koliser saying of what happened when he shot Hartzell in the forehead. "It was like a melon. It just exploded."
Hartzell's parents and other relatives cried softly as they listened to the graphic testimony.
Rupp said he took Koliser to a friend's house, where Koliser took a shower and put on clean clothes. Rupp put Koliser's muddy clothes in a trash bag, along with Koliser's driver's license, and threw them away.
Rupp took Koliser to a truck stop at Interstate 76 and state Route 46, where Koliser planned to steal a car for his escape. But when a police car was spotted nearby, they changed the plan and Rupp simply gave Koliser his own car.
"I gave him a hug and I told him to get out of town," Rupp said. He said the phone call from Florida came the next day.
During cross-examination by defense attorney Jerry McHenry, Rupp admitted that he had lied several times to police before finally telling the truth. McHenry spent several minutes attacking Rupp's credibility as a witness.
Another confession
When assistant prosecutor Jay Macejko asked Rupp to point out Koliser and identify him for jurors, Koliser laughed, raised his hands above his head and waved at Rupp. He tugged at the collar of his shirt as Rupp was describing it for jurors.
Detective Sgt. John Kelty of the Youngstown Police Department said Koliser confessed both shootings to him during an interview after Koliser had been arrested by authorities in Pinellas County, Fla.
Kelty, who said he has known Koliser for some 20 years because he used to date Koliser's aunt in high school, said he was "taken aback" by Koliser's cold attitude and lack of remorse.
"He said that they both had guns and they were both soldiers, so it was a fair fight," Kelty said Koliser told him about Hartzell's shooting.
Kelty said Koliser asked him whether Hartzell had any children, and said he might have "felt a little bit bad" if he had. Hartzell had no children.
Kelty said Koliser told him that he'd seen Hartzell following him in a police car and believed Hartzell was going to stop him and arrest him for shooting Rowe. He also kept waiting for other officers to arrive as backup.
When no other police arrived, and when Hartzell did not stop him, Koliser stopped his car at a red light at West Federal Street and Vindicator Square, got out of his car and walked -- gun in hand -- back toward Hartzell, who was still sitting in his car.
"He stuck his chest out and waited for the officer to engage him in fire," Kelty said. When Hartzell did not shoot, Koliser raised his gun and shot Hartzell once in the chest, firing through the closed driver's side window, Kelty said.
He said Koliser waited for Hartzell to return fire. When no return shots came, Koliser shot Hartzell twice in the head.
The trial was expected to continue today in the courtroom of Judge R. Scott Krichbaum. Among the final prosecution witnesses expected to be called are the Florida man who ultimately led police to Koliser and two Summit County deputy sheriffs to whom Koliser is reported to have confessed while he was locked up there.
bjackson@vindy.com