Board denies parole for man in ’82 case

A hearing for another man convicted in the crime is set for next month.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

COLUMBUS — One of the men convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the 1982 death of a 29-year-old Boardman man will spend at least five more years behind bars.

JoEllen Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said the parole board continued the commitment of James Lee Hall, 55, until November 2012.

“The reason is, the parole board believed that release at this time would demean the seriousness of the offense, which includes violence perpetrated against family members of the victim at the time,” Lyons said.

Hall, formerly of the Cleveland area, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary in the July 1982 death of Doug Skica, 29, a graduate of Canfield High School and Kent State University.

Dan and Debbie Skica of Youngstown, Doug’s brother and sister-in-law, were among those who spoke to the parole board at Wednesday’s hearing. Hall’s attorney and two sisters also spoke.

“We’re all very happy,” said Debbie Skica of the parole board’s decision. “My husband and his brothers would like to see him serve the full term if possible.”

Hall was sentenced to 25 to 100 years. The Skica family wants him to serve 100 years.

Hall was one of four young men who followed Doug’s father, also named Dan, home from the family’s Mayfield Heights restaurant to rob him.

When the elder Skica arrived at his home in the Sherwood Forest development, two of the men, including Hall, pistol-whipped him, demanding money. The other two men stayed in the car.

Doug Skica let the men into the house when they threatened to shoot his father.

They beat both Skica men inside of the house.

One of the men stayed in the kitchen with the father while the other led Doug to a bedroom where Doug’s mother, Gloria, and younger brother, Matt, had locked themselves in.

Mother and son opened the door when the man held a gun on Doug. The man hit Matt, too, but tripped when he swung at Gloria.

That’s when Doug tried to intervene, fighting with the man. The gun was fired, and the other man ran from the kitchen to the bedroom and another shot was fired. One struck Doug in the face, killing him instantly.

Jerome Thompson, 52, and also formerly of the Cleveland area, pleaded to involuntary manslaughter in the case and his hearing before the parole board is set for next month.

Charges were dropped against a third man when he cooperated with authorities. The fourth man was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and released from prison in 2004.

The Skica family has said that Doug’s death devastated the family. The elder Dan Skica lost interest in the family’s restaurant business after his son’s death and lost it. He later developed dementia which the family thinks was brought on by the beating. He went into a nursing home and died in 1994.

Gloria Skica, who had lived with Dan and Debbie, died in 2004.

At the time of his death, Doug was an architect at Dalton, Dalton and Newport in Cleveland.

Shortly after Doug’s death, some of his architecture friends from college established the Douglas Skica Memorial Travel Scholarship in Architecture in his memory to help fund travel for other Kent architecture students.

That fund remains and contributions to it may be sent to the KSU Foundation, P.O. Box 5190, Kent, Ohio 44242. Checks should be made payable to KSU Foundation with Douglas Skica Scholarship in the memo line.

Contributions to the scholarship also may be made online at www.kent.edu.