As Al Milano watched in court, prosecutors laid out a sampling of Jamar Houser's previous run-ins with the law even before the 18-year-old was accused of killing 80-year-old Angeline Fimognari last month.
Houser, who was arrested Friday, was arraigned Monday and issued $3 million bond in the Jan. 23 shooting death of Fimognari in the parking lot of St. Dominic's Church on the city's South Side.
Authorities said Houser's record dates back to when he was just 14 and convicted in juvenile court of receiving stolen property. Two years later, he was convicted on aggravated robbery. Then in September, he was accused of assaulting Jabone Kennedy, who claimed Houser thought he had said something about his father.
That same day Houser was arrested for reportedly firing a gun into the air outside his house on Volney Road. His bond for that was set at $500,000.
"If that bond were still in place, he likely would still be incarcerated pending trial," said city Prosecutor Jay Macejko.
Macejko said after being indicted, Houser's bond was cut to just $20,000, and he was released after posting just ten percent of that. Macejko said the Mahoning County prosecutor's staff should have been aware of Houser's record, and said "certainly they have full access to everything we have."
But the county prosecutor claimed city authorities should have done a better job alerting his office.
"If the city officials felt that strongly, they could have sent a note saying why we have the high bond, and the file just doesn't have that in it," said Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains.
Macejko argued "when someone comes over with a half-million dollar bond, and they're relatively young, as Mr. Houser is, it should have been a 'red flag'."
Late Monday afternoon, we learned Gains' staff went back to Judge Lou D'Apolito, who will be hearing that firearms case, to request a higher bond.
The judge agreed and reset it at $200,000.
