Facts argued against clemency

Facts argued against clemency

In the end, the facts mattered.

And the primary fact was that Jason Getsy, a 19-year-old man who liked the feel of a gun in his hand, set out on the night of July 7, 1995, to kill, and kill he did.

His job was to kill Charles Serafino at Serafino’s Hubbard Township home and any witnesses who got in the way.

He tried his best to kill Serafino, 39, and for a few hours thought he had. He succeeded in killing the only witness in the home, Ann Serafino, Charles’ 66-year-old mother. He had no reason to doubt he killed her; he shot her twice at point-blank range as she lay the floor of her bedroom.

Those cold, hard facts are all that anyone need know about Jason Getsy’s conviction for aggravated murder with three aggravating circumstances. The facts justify the death penalty that a judge and jury deemed appropriate for Jason Getsy 13 years ago. It was a just verdict for a man who willfully invaded another person’s home in the middle of the night with the intention of killing Charles Serafino specifically, and anyone else who might happen to be present.

Parole Board lost focus

That five of seven members of the Ohio Adult Parole Authority could lose sight of the fact that justice under the law, and in the name of Ann Serafino, demanded that Getsy pay the ultimate price for his barbarity is unfortunate. They became tangled up in a number of questions, especially whether it was fair for John Santine, who ordered Serafino’s murder, to escape the death penalty while Getsy, who actually pulled the trigger, received life in prison.

Fortunately Gov. Ted Strickland, after an exhaustive review of the case, saw past claims that Getsy is a changed and remorseful man, saw through the lies Getsy told in June during a video conference with the parole authority and saw that Getsy should pay for the murder of Ann Serafino with his own life. It could not have been an easy decision for Strickland, but it was necessary if justice was to be done for Mrs. Serafino.

Barring any other delays, Jason Getsy will taken from the Ohio State Penitentiary here and transported to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville, where he will be put to death Tuesday.