Fight led to man’s death, police say

The charge of aggravated murder was reduced to voluntary manslaughter.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

AUSTINTOWN — Eric E. Showalter and Edward A. Miller Jr. agreed to meet outside the El Carlos Mexican Restaurant on Mahoning Avenue in Lake Milton last Thursday to fight, police said.

The two had a long-standing dislike for each other, in part because of an incident from last fall in which Showalter injured his fiancée, Krysta L. Miller, who is Edward Miller’s sister, police added.

Showalter, 28, of Diamond, just west of the Mahoning County line, arrived at the restaurant in a car with his brother and fiancée. In the car with them was a club about 2 feet long, apparently made from the wooden handle of a hatchet.

Edward Miller, 20, of Rose Lawn Avenue, Lake Milton, left the restaurant about 9 p.m., at the end of his work shift. A chef and bus boy, Miller walked out of the restaurant with a knife from the kitchen in his pocket. He didn’t have permission from the restaurant to take the knife with him, said Michael Saltsman, the Milton Township police chief.

Showalter and Miller fought in a parking lot in the nearby Lake Shore Plaza, Saltsman said. The fight involved the club and the knife, he said, though he declined to be more specific.

Showalter’s brother, whose name has not been released, witnessed the fight, Saltsman said. The brother told police Eric Showalter didn’t realize he was stabbed right away after the fight.

When blood was noticed on Showalter’s clothing, calls were placed to 911. By the time emergency personnel arrived, Showalter appeared to be unconscious, Saltsman said. Showalter was pronounced dead at St. Elizabeth Health Center at 10:06 p.m.

Mahoning County Coroner David M. Kennedy ruled Showalter died from a single stab wound to the chest.

Police initially charged Miller with aggravated murder, but those charges were reduced to voluntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence when he was arraigned earlier this week in Mahoning County Area Court here.

Saltsman said he conferred with Kenneth Cardinal, assistant county prosecutor, on the case, and Cardinal recommended the lesser charges, Saltsman added.

The penalty for aggravated murder is up to life in prison. Voluntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence carry a maximum prison term of 15 years.

Saltsman said the main difference between the charges is that aggravated murder requires proof that the perpetrator had a plan to kill, or thought about the killing in advance.

Atty. John B. Juhasz, who is representing Miller, said the tampering-with-evidence charge relates to Miller’s allegedly throwing the knife in a trash receptacle after the fight.

Miller waived a preliminary hearing in a Wednesday court session, and Judge David D’Apolito bound the case over to the Mahoning County grand jury.

Judge D’Apolito reduced Miller’s bond from $258,000 to $75,000. Miller can be released on house arrest with work privileges if he is able to pay 10 percent of the bond.

As they left the courtroom Wednesday, a woman identifying herself as Eric Showalter’s mother said her son’s funeral was Tuesday.

She called her son’s death “senseless and stupid,” adding her son was a compassionate person.

runyan@vindy.com