Staff report

WARREN — A former Mineral Ridge man who was convicted at the age of 17 for the aggravated murder of Douglas Lash in Newton Township in 1992, has been granted parole after serving more than 30 years of a life sentence.

The Ohio Adult Parole Authority voted 5-4 in favor of Chris Ferrell’s release during a full board hearing on Wednesday. Lisa Hoying, the board’s chair, announced Ferrell, 49, will be released on Nov. 18, 2024, and will begin a five-year period of highly supervised parole.

Ferrell’s parole was supported by seven individuals who testified on his behalf, along with public defender Ross Smith. However, Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Charles Morrow argued against his release. Ferrell is expected to reside in Stark County following his release.

Ferrell’s release has faced staunch opposition from Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, who has been involved in the case since the early 1990s when he prosecuted Ferrell on aggravated murder charges. Watkins, in a letter to the parole board, urged them to deny Ferrell’s release, describing him as a “sociopath who needs to be locked up for the rest of his natural life.” He pointed to Ferrell’s five rule infractions while incarcerated, including his reluctance to follow instructions from correctional officers, as evidence of Ferrell’s inability to reform.

In his opposition letter, Watkins added, “With Ferrell, there is a disgusting overload of actual behavior to justify keeping him behind bars.” Watkins has been vocal about extending Ferrell’s stay at the Lebanon Correctional Institution in Lebanon.

Ferrell, who was last denied parole in 2013, had been serving a life sentence imposed by former Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Peter J. Kontos. At that time, the state board imposed the maximum 10-year waiting period before his next parole hearing, which took place this month.

On Feb. 11, 1992, Ferrell and three other teens burglarized Lash’s Newton Township home after Lash returned from his shift at a local grocery store. Lash interrupted the burglary and confronted the group with a machete. Ferrell responded by pointing a .380-caliber pistol at him and forcing Lash into the living room. After ordering Lash to kneel, Ferrell shot him in the back of the head “for no apparent reason,” according to testimony from the other teens.

Ferrell then instructed another teen, 13-year-old Thomas Elsmore, of Austintown, to shoot Lash again. The group covered Lash’s body with a blanket before fleeing with stolen goods. Within a month, all four suspects were arrested by Trumbull County Sheriff’s deputies.

Watkins revealed that while in the Trumbull County Jail, Ferrell instructed the 13-year-old to take responsibility for the second shot, believing the minor would avoid adult prosecution. The other 17-year-olds involved, who did not handle the gun, have since been released from prison. Elsmore, tried as a juvenile, was held in juvenile detention until his 21st birthday. Ferrell, who was just seven days shy of his 18th birthday at the time of the crime, narrowly avoided a potential death penalty.

Watkins has emphasized the severity of Ferrell’s actions in previous letters to the parole board, highlighting Ferrell’s history of violence. Prior to Lash’s murder, Ferrell had reportedly duct-taped an elderly deaf woman to a chair and terrorized her with a sawed-off shotgun.