BOARDMAN, Ohio – There are new revelations in the January 2010 murder of an elderly parishioner outside of Saint Dominic's Church in Youngstown.

Attorneys for the man formerly accused of murder tell 21 News they believe there was a rush to judgment in the high-profile murder case because Jamar Houser was arrested only on a hearsay statement provided by another suspect in the case. "There was another individual who was a suspect who said Jamar did it, and they arrested him on that and that alone," said Lynn Maro, an attorney representing Houser.

On Thursday, May 24th new evidence in the case led the Mahoning County Prosecutor and Youngstown police to dismiss murder charges against Houser. The Youngstown man spent nearly 2 1/2 years in jail and faced the death penalty if convicted of killing 80-year-old Angeline Fimognari in the church parking lot.

Now a free man, Houser is considering a lawsuit, is working to obtain his GED and get a job, and tells 21 News he deserves an apology because his family's name has been tarnished by the allegations.

"It ain't ever going to be normal again because everywhere I just see people pointing (at me) and saying stuff. What they need to quit doing is locking people up just off of hearsay, and start using physical evidence. I just want to let everybody know that I didn't do it. Like I told them from the beginning I'm innocent," Houser says.

Houser also says he hopes the Fimognari family can heal after the tragic loss of their loved one.

The 21-year-old says the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office offered him plea deals, because he says they knew their case was weak, but he refused. Houser says when you know you didn't do it, you have to fight.

The murder trial had been delayed several times to address evidentiary issues, but in April the trial was delayed again after two men contacted the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office saying another man had confessed to the crime.

The problem, that man, Duane Colvin, had been the victim of a homicide himself in September of 2011.

But Colvin's body was exhumed and authorities discovered his palm print was a match to a palm print found on the murder victim's car. Prosecutors and police say they now believe Duane Colvin robbed, shot and killed the woman at the church, not Houser.

Houser's attorneys said the case against him was flawed from the beginning.

Attorney John Juhasz said, "When I heard the other day somebody say they had an eyewitness when he was arrested, that's not true. That identification was made days later, after that person had been in jail with Jamar and seen him on TV."

The photo array used for the eyewitness to make an identification in the case is also admittedly flawed. At an April 29th, 2011 hearing in the case, Detective-Sergeant Ron Rodway testified that he agreed that Houser's face appears to be larger in the frame than the other suspects in the photo array or line-up.

Houser's attorneys say there's even more evidence to suggest that Houser was not responsible for the crime. Prosecutors knew on February 18th of 2010 that Houser's palm print did not match the palm print found at the murder scene.

Youngstown Police Chief Rod Foley said in hindsight maybe police should have waited to make the arrest, but they still would have arrested Houser at some point based on the evidence that was collected. Chief Foley claims Houser consistently lied when interviewed by detectives. The chief also says that police do not make the decision to charge someone on their own, Jay Macejko, who was the Youngstown City Prosecutor at the time, signed the arrest warrants.

Defense attorneys say the county prosecutor could have also delayed going to the Mahoning County Grand Jury to seek an indictment against Houser if he felt more investigation was needed. Prosecutor Gains says by the time the case was presented to the grand jury a witness had made an eyewitness ID of Houser saying he ran in front of her car on Lucius Avenue and was coming from the area of the church around the time of the crime.

But Houser and his attorneys aren't buying it. Attorney Lynn Maro says, "I think the nature of this case led to a rush to judgment, a quick arrest, and as a result evidence and details were not paid attention to that clearly showed he didn't have anything to do with this. When you have high-profile cases, you have elected officials making decisions; sometimes they're more concerned about their next election than the facts and the evidence."