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Suspect in killing at St. Dom’s wants trial moved
YOUNGSTOWN
Lawyers for Jamar Houser, charged with killing an elderly woman in the St. Dominic Church parking lot, say pre-trial publicity here has been so extensive that his trial should be moved to another county before any attempt is made to select a jury.
“Extensive and prejudicial media coverage has tainted the jury pool, thereby making it impossible for the defendant to receive the fair and impartial trial guaranteed by the state and federal constitutions,” wrote Houser’s lawyers, John B. Juhasz and Lynn A. Maro in their motion to relocate the trial.
The motion and memorandum, totaling 58 pages, was filed late Friday, with newspaper stories and Web postings from local media attached as exhibits.
Houser’s trial is to begin March 19 before Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who has not ruled on the motion.
A pretrial-motion hearing will be 9 a.m. March 14. May 14 is the alternate date for the trial to begin.
Houser, 21, of Volney Road, who faces the death penalty, remains jailed under $3.1 million bond.
Houser is charged with aggravated robbery and aggravated murder in the shooting death of Angeline Fimognari, 80, of Sheridan Road, after she left Mass at St. Dominic on Jan. 23, 2010.
Recent pre-election public comments about the Houser case from Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains and from City Prosecutor Jay Macejko, who seeks to oust Gains from office in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, have fueled further publicity about the matter, the defense lawyers said.
Gains said his office will oppose the motion to immediately move the trial and ask Judge D’Apolito to attempt jury selection here before considering relocating the trial.
“We are going to suggest to the court that this [motion] is premature, and that the court can deal with any pre-trial publicity issues during jury selection,” Gains said.
The defense lawyers said in their motion that the evidence against Houser is weak.
“The defendant does not appear on the [church]security videos. His DNA is not found anywhere at the scene. His fingerprints were not found at the scene. A search of his home revealed nothing,” Juhasz and Maro wrote.
There were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, and the prosecution’s case relies on a witness who said she saw Houser running near the church around the time of shooting and a witness who said Houser admitted to him that he committed the crimes, the defense lawyers wrote.
Gains said he would not comment on the evidence in a pending case.