Killer of Trumbull bar owner to be released in July

The county prosecutor and a former judge opposed the parole.
By MARC KOVAC
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- A Columbiana County man who has served nearly 30 years in prison for the murder of a Trumbull County bar owner will be released this summer, the Ohio Parole Board decided Monday.
Chairwoman Cynthia Mausser, speaking on behalf of the nine-member board, said Gary Allan Betz, 53, will be set free from the Grafton Correctional Institution on or after July 16. He is to have no contact with his victim's family and must complete other parole terms.
A majority of board members agreed that he has served sufficient time behind bars and has made an acceptable adjustment, Mausser said.
The decision was made after about an hour of statements for and against the early release. The board also met in executive session for about half an hour.
Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said it was the wrong decision.
"We feel he's a danger to society, and he should not be released," he said.
Betz was sentenced to life in prison for the pre-Christmas 1976 murder of Ronald Goche in a back room of the Riviera Inn near Lake Milton. He and a co-defendant waited until the bar was closed, then demanded money from the victim.
After being given 138, Betz shot Goche point-blank in the face with a shotgun. A witness in the bar, unbeknown to the defendant, saw the entire episode and provided testimony that secured a conviction.
Prison conduct
Barry Wilford, legal counsel for Betz, asked the parole board to focus on Betz's conduct over the past 30 years.
The inmate has had no disciplinary record since at least 1980 (other records were not available), has completed his high school equivalency degree and vocational courses and, for a time, drove a truck for the prison system.
"There is no violence and no drugs," Wilford said, adding later, "He operated outside the prison without any direct supervision and was not terminated for any misconduct. ... He has done what he could, I think, including donating time and efforts to community service activities."
Additionally, Wilford said Betz has a "potentially fatal" disease, an autoimmune deficiency that causes skin and joint problems and can eventually affect internal organs.
Watkins said he was not allowed to review medical and disciplinary records, which are not considered public records.
Wilford said family and community members stand ready to assist Betz, offering places to live (relatives in Minerva and Kent have offered to let him stay) and employment.
Nine family members and friends, including two sisters, nieces and nephews, were on hand at Monday's hearing but did not offer any statements to the board.
Wilford said Betz has acknowledged the enormity or his crime and the pain caused to the victims and has voiced heartfelt sorrow and remorse.
Arguing against release
But Watkins countered that, though his current prison record appeared to be free of discipline issues, Betz has a track record of anti-social behavior that led to prison stints at age 16 and 19. He was paroled each time and shot and killed Goche while on release for the second.
"Psychopaths can manipulate -- they can have good prison records," Watkins said. "They don't fit a simple pattern. What we have in Gary Allan Betz, in my opinion, is a heinous, vile offender."
Donald R. Ford, a Warren attorney who was one of the three common pleas judges who heard Betz's case, submitted a letter to the board after the start of Monday's hearing, urging members to deny an early release. "It is my position that, if released from confinement, that he would pose a significant risk to others. The surrounding facts of the unnecessary killing in this case clearly support that conclusion," he wrote. "Nothing in the intervening years would suggest to me that a psychiatric rehabilitation has occurred that would negate the foregoing view."
The victim's brother and sister-in-law also asked parole board members to keep Betz in prison.
Kathy Goche said Betz's actions had changed her family, taking away her brother-in-law of seven weeks.
"He was sentenced to life for aggravated murder," she said. "Life is life."
Galen Goche recalled the bloody barroom, the gruesome pictures shown during trials and the scenes he and his family have had to replay since his brother's death.
"If he's doing very well in prison, I think that's a really good thing," he said. "Let's not ruin a good thing. Let's keep [him] in there. Based on history, that's where he can serve society the best."
mkovac@dixcom.com