Houser appealing murder conviction

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

It didn’t take long for a Rockford man imprisoned for killing his girlfriend to file an appeal. Less than a week after he was sentenced to 15 years to life in a state prison, Ryan Houser, 39, filed an appeal and was granted new legal representation.

Online court records show on Monday, June 30, a notice of appeal was filed with the Van Wert County Clerk of Courts Office and a motion for transcripts to be prepare at the court’s expense was granted. On Tuesday, Van Wert County Common Pleas Court Judge Martin D. Burchfield appointed attorney Rafael Villegas as Houser’s new legal counsel, also at state expense. Lima attorney Kenneth Rexford most recently served as Houser’s lawyer. 

Court documents show Houser is appealing his conviction and sentencing in the case to the Third District Court of Appeals.

On March 6, after many delays in the case, Houser changed his plea from not guilty to no contest to a single count of murder, an unclassified felony in this case. In exchange, three other charges – aggravated murder, an unclassified felony, possessing a weapon under disability, and tampering with evidence, both third degree felonies, were dismissed. The charges were tied to the September, 2023, death of Houser’s girlfriend, Barbara Ganger of Van Wert.

Two months after pleading no contest and being found guilty by Judge Burchfield, Houser was in court for sentencing but as the hearing started, he claimed he was innocent and requested that his no contest plea be withdrawn. On May 29, Judge Burchfield issued a written ruling denying the request.

During sentencing on June 24, Houser was given 15 years to life on the murder charge, a mandatory sentence under Ohio Revised Code. There is no early release provision, however, Houser was given credit for 491 days served at the Van Wert County Correctional Facility. He was transferred to the state’s Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, on June 26 and will remain there until transferred to one of the state’s 27 prisons. The process usually takes up to 90 days.

Ganger was found shot twice at her residence at Van Wert West Apartments on W. Main St. Houser was indicted by a Van Wert County grand jury on November, 2023.