Prosecutor wants review of full parole board before killer is freed

Prosecutor wants review of full parole board before killer is freed

The Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office has written to the Ohio Adult Parole Authority seeking a full board hearing on any parole for convicted Trumbull County killer Charles Crenshaw.

Crenshaw is behind bars for shooting to death a man who was inspecting his damaged vehicle on state Route 304 near Hubbard. Shortly afterward, he was arrested in Youngstown following a break-in at a dry cleaner.

Crenshaw, 72, has been in prison for more than 53 years and is housed at Belmont Correctional Institution serving time for a first-degree murder conviction. In late summer, Crenshaw was interviewed by three members of the parole board outside his cell. The panel recommended he be released.

"As you are aware, inmate Crenshaw has a lengthy history of failing to comply with the terms and conditions of (past) parole," a letter to the board by Prosecutor Dennis Watkins begins. "However we recognized the board has access to more information about his physical and mental health … we respect the right of the board to take appropriate action as you see fit -- even though we may disagree. It is for this reason that we are requesting a full board hearing on this matter."

A full-board hearing would be scheduled sometime in January, Watkins said, and representing his office arguing for keeping Crenshaw behind bars would be Assistant Prosecutor Gabriel Wildman.

Watkins has called Crenshaw Trumbull County's longest-serving inmate, being convicted almost eight years before Watkins even entered the prosecutor's office as an assistant.

In other letters to the parole board, the longtime prosecutor had gone over the case, gleaning testimony from Crenshaw's trial:

THE CASE

On Nov. 14, 1968, a couple, William Richard Zelch and Mary Heideman, were driving east on state Route 304, east of Hubbard when their vehicle was struck from behind twice by another auto.

After the second hit, Zelch pulled his vehicle over in an attempt to inspect any damage. When he looked up, he saw Charles Crenshaw, standing about 3 to 4 feet from him and Heideman, who also had gotten out of the car. Without saying a word, Crenshaw pulled the trigger of the gun he was holding. After firing, Crenshaw ran back to his car and took off.

Zelch was pronounced dead about a half-hour later at a Sharon, Pa., hospital from a bullet wound to the abdomen. Heideman was not harmed.

On the stand, Crenshaw testified that he stole an auto before shooting Zelch as well as breaking into various other vehicles the same evening. He said he also was involved in an armed robbery of a young woman in Hubbard.

After the shooting, Crenshaw further testified he participated in a break-in of the DeLost Dry Cleaners in Youngstown. He was arrested by a Youngstown patrolman investigating the dry cleaner break-in about four hours after the shooting.

After a short vehicle chase in which Crenshaw had crashed into a wall, the patrolman found a .25-caliber Titan handgun on Crenshaw, which was identified at trial as the murder weapon.

Heideman positively identified Crenshaw as the one who shot Zilch out of a live lineup consisting of two sets of four men.

Watkins suggests the public would be safer with Crenshaw remaining inside prison bars.

"It appears that this man is short on a moral compass and his prison history surely suggests (this)," Watkins writes.

Watkins said his office has been unable to locate any surviving members of the victim's family to invite them to attend Crenshaw's parole hearing.

Meanwhile, Laura E. Austen, deputy director, Policy and Outreach for the Office of the Ohio Public Defender, said she does not comment on pending parole cases for inmates.

OTHER HEARING RESULTS

After being interviewed by three-member panels of the parole authority earlier this year, it was decided the prison terms of two Trumbull County inmates would be extended by five years each.

According to the website for the Ohio Bureau of Rehabilitation and Correction, the next parole hearing for Amos Hughley is scheduled for May 2027, while Tarik Allen's term was extended at least until his next parole hearing scheduled for October 2027.

Hughley, 67, is serving time at the Northeast Ohio Correctional facility on the East Side of Youngstown for convictions of various crimes over the last five decades, including the 1978 slaying of Ernest Hargrave. Some of Hughley's offenses were committed after he was let out of prison on parole, according to Watkins.

Allen, 44, is in Lake Erie Correctional Institution serving a 12- to 50-year sentence on charges of involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping and aggravated robbery. He was convicted before Judge W. Wyatt McKay for the 1995 slaying of Mark Heltzel, the brother of late Trumbull County Commissioner Paul Heltzel.

Watkins said he was pleased to see that the parole board agreed with him in keeping both Allen and Hughley behind bars.