Coroner: Koliser used strap to hang himself

The inmate was not on suicide watch.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Cop killer Martin L. Koliser Jr. used a strap to hang himself in his death row cell when cuts to his arms "didn't do the trick," a coroner said.
Dr. Stewart Ryckman, Richland County coroner, said the strap, similar to the nylon type used on fanny packs with a slide fastener, was attached to the top bunk. Dr. Ryckman said Koliser died from "suspension hanging."
The coroner said nothing was over Koliser's head, only the strap was used to cause asphyxiation.
Dr. Ryckman said Koliser bled a lot from cuts he made to his upper arms before using the strap. The death was suicide, the coroner said.
Koliser was found on the floor in front of his bunk at the Mansfield Correctional Institution at 5:30 a.m. Saturday. The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating the death.
Death row inmates, housed one to a cell, are checked every 30 minutes, and Koliser was alive at 5 a.m. Saturday. He was not on suicide watch.
Koliser, of Boardman, was placed on death row Nov. 7, 2003. He marked his 32nd birthday April 11.
His crime
He killed 26-year-old Patrolman Michael T. Hartzell at 2:19 a.m. April 29, 2003, as the officer sat in his cruiser at a red light at Federal Street and Vindicator Square. Hartzell, dead at the scene, was on his way to the police station two blocks away to file reports.
Koliser fled to Palm Harbor, Fla., after the murder and was arrested by police within roughly 30 hours of the shooting.
Koliser described himself to those who aided in his capture as a warrior and survivalist (someone who would eat a rat).
At sentencing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in November 2003, Koliser said he wanted to give up his life without a fight. He didn't want courts and lawyers fighting to block his execution.
"I didn't show no mercy. I don't expect no mercy. I don't want no mercy," Koliser told Judge R. Scott Krichbaum.
Koliser said he was prepared to die and wanted to spend as little time as possible behind bars waiting for that day to arrive.
"I'm not sitting there like that," he said at sentencing.
Koliser told the judge he hates society and no longer wants to be a part of it.
"You are unfit to live in our society," Judge Krichbaum said before imposing the sentence. "Death is the only penalty you deserve."
Last week, on the second anniversary of Hartzell's death, roughly 70 officers, family members and others gathered for a quite moment outside the former Master's Tuxedo on Federal Street at Vindicator Square. Hartzell and other fallen officers were to be remembered today at St. Maron Church during Police Memorial Week.
meade@vindy.com