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Murder suspect’s dad sent to prison
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John Houser Sr.
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Jamar Houser
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
John Houser Sr., father of Jamar Houser, the suspect in the murder of an elderly woman outside St. Dominic Church, is on his way to prison for a probation violation.
Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed the 10-month sentence Tuesday after Houser’s probation officer said he spotted the elder Houser violating his probation by driving a vehicle under license suspension.
The probation officer, Brian L. Worrell, said Houser, 46, of Volney Road, also violated his probation by testing positive for cocaine and marijuana, which he admitted using, and by failing to report to a drug treatment program last Friday for a scheduled evaluation.
Judge D’Apolito had sentenced the elder Houser on May 21 to five years’ probation after he pleaded guilty to obstructing justice based on remarks he made to a potential witness in his son’s case.
Jamar Houser, 19, of Volney Road, is awaiting trial on charges of aggravated murder with a death- penalty specification and aggravated robbery in the fatal Jan. 23 shooting of Angeline Fimognari, 80, of Sheridan Road, at the church.
The judge imposed the prison time on the elder Houser after he waived a probation-violation hearing and after James MacDonald, an assistant county prosecutor, recommended prison time.
The elder Houser’s lawyer, Ross Smith, asked that his client not be sent to prison because he told the truth to his probation officer.
Smith also said his client would have appeared for his treatment evaluation had he not been ill Friday.
“I wasn’t trying to disrespect you or the courts,” the elder Houser told Judge D’Apolito.
Houser said he suffered from a serious seizure and elevated blood sugar and was ill through the weekend.
Jamar Houser’s mother, Frances Cianciola, 42, of Volney Road, remains on two years’ probation after she, too, pleaded guilty to obstructing justice in her son’s case.
When Judge D’Apolito imposed probations on the elder Houser and Cianciola, one of the conditions was that they are to have no contact with anyone associated with their son’s case, which also is before the judge.