ID from witness will be used

Photo

Jamar Houser

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The witness identification of Jamar Houser, who is accused of killing a woman as she left her church last year, will be used at trial.

On Monday, Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court overruled a defense motion that would have thrown out the ID, said the county prosecutor’s office.

Houser, 20, of Volney Road, is facing the death penalty if he is convicted of the Jan. 23, 2010, slaying of Angeline Fimognari, 80, of Sheridan Road, after she left an 8 a.m. Mass that day at St. Dominic Church on the city’s South Side.

Fimognari was shot in the head.

Her purse was missing, leading police to believe she was a victim of a robbery turned deadly.

A 36-year-old city woman told authorities she saw Houser running from the direction of the church around the time of the shooting.

She later picked Houser out of a photo lineup, but defense lawyers Lynn Maro and John B. Juhasz, representing Houser, said the identification should not be permitted.

The lawyers said the identification should not be used because the detective’s presentation was unduly suggestive.

They also said the woman only claims to have seen the man briefly and from the side.

Houser is scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing June 15.

No other court dates have been scheduled.