Watkins to argue against parole

One of the three will serve a prison term in Pennsylvania upon his release in Ohio.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins travels to Columbus this week to argue against the release of two murderers who've been in prison since the mid-1970s and a rapist in prison since 1989.
Watkins has protested parole for :
Gary A. Betz, 53, of Homeworth in Columbiana County, for murdering Ronald Goche, a 30-year-old owner of the Riviera Inn tavern near Lake Milton, in 1976. He was sentenced to seven to 25 years in prison in 1977 and has served 29 years. His hearing is Monday.
James Teague, 56, of Farrell, Pa., who was convicted of killing Charles Earnhart of Masury and robbing his wife, Helen, in 1974, at their combined pharmacy and home. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1975. His hearing is Tuesday.
Clyde Beck, 57, of Youngstown and various other addresses, who was convicted on six counts of rape for having sexual contact or intercourse with two girls between age 10 and 13. Beck took a plea and agreed to a sentence of between seven and 25 years in prison and has been there 17 years. His hearing is also Tuesday.
Watkins said Betz and Teague are both repeat violent offenders. All three men are sociopaths, Watkins said, meaning they are impulsive people with no conscience and were diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder.
Violent behavior
Watkins said the crimes Betz and Teague committed demonstrated "extremely unnecessarily violent behavior." He added, "You do not take the risk of letting these individuals out of prison."
One of the strongest cases for keeping Teague behind bars is that he has violated prison rules 63 times on 36 dates while in prison, Watkins said.
As for Betz, he was on parole for the second time when he killed Goche. The argument has been made two previous times that Betz was OK to be released, Watkins said, and both times Betz proved he was not.
Watkins said Goche befriended Betz and invited him to Goche's engagement party some time before the murder.
About six months after the two became acquainted, Goche had closed up the tavern and taken the receipts to a back area in the building when Betz came in with the shotgun. Unknown to Betz at the time, a witness was sleeping in the back area and heard the conversation that followed.
Goche asked Betz, "Gary, why do you have a gun? Take what you want. Consider it a loan. You won't get in any trouble,'" Watkins said.
At that point, Betz said, "'You're right, I won't,'" and shot Goche in the face, killing him, and taking the 138 Goche was counting, Watkins said.
About their crimes
As for Teague, he and accomplice Robert Brockman entered the Earnharts' pharmacy, and Brockman asked to use the telephone. Teague entered the kitchen and ordered Earnhart to the floor, but Earnhart backed up toward an area where he kept a firearm, and Teague shot him. Earnhart stumbled and reached for the firearm again.
Teague eventually shot the 54-year-old World War II veteran five times, according to a prosecutor's office summary. The two men then robbed the pharmacy of 35 and fled.
Teague was also sentenced March 19, 1976, in Mercer County Common Pleas Court to two five- to 20-year sentences for two other robberies. If Teague is granted release in Ohio, he will be extradited to Pennsylvania to serve that sentence.
In Beck's case, Watkins said one of Beck's victims wrote to the parole board, asking that he remain in prison.
"My sister and I suffered horrible physical, emotional and sexual abuse on a daily basis for approximately five years," the woman wrote to the parole board.
"This abuse ended not as a result of Mr. Beck suddenly developing a conscience, but because the abuse had elevated to such a degree that we feared our lives were in jeopardy. I also believed with all my heart that my other siblings would be his next victims," she wrote.
"Clyde Beck is a master manipulator who is incapable of having empathy for others, is only interested in self-gratification, and sees nothing wrong with his past behavior and unnatural desires," she wrote.
runyan@vindy.com