The Associated Press

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - An ex-convict who occasionally slept and laughed at his murder trial was convicted Thursday of killing a city police officer and wounding a man hours earlier.

A Mahoning County Common Pleas Court jury convicted Martin L. Koliser Jr., 30, of nearby Boardman, of aggravated murder in the shooting death of Patrolman Michael Hartzell, 26, on April 29.

He also was convicted of three death-penalty specifications and attempted murder.

The penalty phase of the trial begins Wednesday.

The same jury that convicted Koliser must decide whether to recommend to the judge whether to sentence him to death or life in prison.

In a letter written by Koliser to his sister and read to jurors before they began deliberating, Koliser said he had no remorse for killing the officer and no respect for the justice system.

Prosecutors said Koliser ambushed Hartzell in his patrol car and wounded Donell Rowe, 23, of Youngstown, with a gunshot to the chest two hours earlier at a bar.