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Trial date undecided for man accused of killing wife in 2007
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Jack Amato Jr.
A conference call is set for Aug. 24 to try to determine a trial date.
LISBON — A woman who authorities say was murdered by her husband had gunshot residue on her, according to the special prosecutor handling the case.
But special prosecutor Lynn Grimshaw of Wheelersburg, Ohio, said he is not concerned about it because it doesn’t mean she fired a gun, as alleged by her husband.
The information on the resident came to light Monday as attorneys tried unsuccessfully to set a trial date in one of the two felony cases facing Jack C. Amato Jr.
The case began July 1, 2007, when, authorities say, Amato Jr., 37, of Wellsville, shot his wife, Tonia, 25, in the living room of their home at 1200 Commerce St., Wellsville.
Amato Jr. says that she fired at him with a .22-caliber pistol and missed, and he returned fire with a .45-caliber pistol.
He is charged with murder.
Grimshaw said after the hearing that gunpowder residue on Mrs. Amato could have come from her being in the proximity of a shot’s being fired.
While under house arrest awaiting trial, Amato Jr. stayed at his father’s home in Irondale.
He was later charged with having weapons while under a disability, accused of having guns and homemade bombs in the bedroom of his father’s house in Irondale.
Grimshaw was appointed because the county prosecutor’s office represents the county board of health. Amato Jr. is the son of Dr. Jack C. Amato, who is a longtime member of the county health board.
Grimshaw and lawyers for Amato Jr. had a conference call Monday with Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge C. Ashley Pike, who is hearing both cases.
Attorneys could not agree on a trial date for either case. Attorneys will try again in another conference set for 8:45 a.m. Aug. 24.
Defense attorney James Hartford said during the hearing that he had not received information from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation on evidence that was submitted several months ago.
The murder-case file contained a report from the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s office that said Tonia Amto did not have gunshot residue on her hands.
The Cuyahoga County Coroner’s office referred a call to Columbiana County Coroner Dr. William Graham, who was not available. He earlier ruled Tonia’s death a homicide.
The cases have taken several other turns.
The .45-caliber pistol that was taken from Amato Jr. after the shooting was not the weapon used to shoot Tonia Amato. That gun has not been found by authorities.
Authorities who searched Amato Jr.’s house right after the shooting thought the slug was still in his wife’s body. An autopsy showed otherwise. Sheriff’s office personnel searched Amato Jr.’s home again and found the slug had exited her body and had stopped in a box of Sweet’N Low.
The defense recently sent the fatal slug for testing at the Columbia International Forensics Laboratory in Newport, Wash. If the slug is somehow damaged or lost, the defense and prosecution agreed, testimony would be presented at the trial on the condition of the slug before it was shipped.
Grimshaw said he believed the postponement is the fourth for the murder trial and the third on the weapons charges.
wilkinson@vindy.com