Defense motion in murder case OK’d

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The trial judge in the St. Dominic murder case has approved a defense motion that a state statute will be the standard used to decide whether potential jurors who don’t favor the death penalty can be excluded from the jury for cause.

In a Thursday hearing, Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court upheld a motion by John B. Juhasz, a lawyer for Jamar Houser, who is charged in the Jan. 23 shooting death of Angeline Fimognari out- side St. Dominic Church.

Houser, 19, of Volney Road, is charged with aggravated murder with a death-penalty specification and aggravated robbery in the death of Fimognari, 80, of Sheridan Road.

The state law the judge will use says a potential juror can be kept off the jury for cause only if that person unequivocally says he or she is unwilling to consider imposing the death penalty under any circumstances.

“The General Assembly has made a statute on this. We are obliged to follow that statute,” Juhasz told the judge.

Rebecca L. Doherty, an assistant county prosecutor, argued unsuccessfully for use of a less-restrictive standard based on U.S. and Ohio Supreme Court decisions.

The standard the prosecutor advocated says a potential juror may be excluded for cause when his or her views concerning the death penalty would “prevent or substantially impair” the juror’s performance.

“The Ohio Supreme Court is recommending that the language of ‘prevent or substantially impair’ be used,” Doherty told the judge.

Although both standards are acceptable, the judge said the state statute has prevailed in previous Mahoning County cases. “I believe that defendants in Mahoning County must be treated similarly,” the judge concluded.