Death-row inmate on victims’ family: ‘I love them’

Ohio’s parole board has urged clemency for the convicted killer of a Hubbard woman.

By Marc Kovac

COLUMBUS — The man scheduled to die next month for killing a Hubbard woman in a murder-for-hire scheme said he is at peace with his fate, whether that means execution or life in prison without parole.

“Even still if the governor doesn’t grant clemency, then I feel that the Lord wants me home,” Jason Getsy said during a death-row interview this week.

“And I am at peace with that because all of my trust is with him. You know, all of my faith and trust is in him. And if I were to get clemency, I’d feel like I have work to do, like maybe I have more work to do for him.”

Getsy was interviewed Tuesday by Jo Ingles, a reporter for Ohio Public Radio, on behalf of the Ohio Legislative Correspondents Association. The Statehouse reporters group is allowed to interview death-row inmates before their executions. Other association members get interview transcripts.

The hourlong interview took place at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown with his attorney, Michael Benza, present.

Getsy, now 33, was convicted in the 1995 murder of Ann R. Serafino and the attempted murder of her son, Charles Serafino. According to court documents, Getsy and two other men were hired to kill Charles Serafino by another individual over a business disagreement. Serafino, though shot in the face at point blank range, survived.

The state parole board, on a 5-2 vote, recommended clemency in the case, noting that Getsy, the triggerman, was the only one of four co-defendants who received the death penalty. A jury rejected death for the ringleader of the murder for hire, John Santine.

Gov. Ted Strickland has not yet issued his decision on the clemency. The victims’ family and others in the community recently completed a petition drive urging the governor to allow the execution to take place as scheduled, on Aug. 18.

During his interview with the Statehouse reporter, Getsy spoke about his troubled childhood — never meeting his biological father, being exposed to violent men and drug abusers, getting kicked out of home and living on the streets, and using drugs and alcohol.

Getsy reiterated what he told the parole board during the clemency process — that he was afraid of Santine and felt trapped.

“[Santine] would claim to have an organized-crime connection; he would claim to have police in his pocket; he’d claim to have government officials, judges. He would talk about people that he could have do things — acts of violence,” Getsy said.

He added later, “You could remove me or [the other convicted conspirators] from the crime, and it still happens. But the only figure that you can’t remove from it is Santine. If you remove him from the crime, it doesn’t happen. And every court I’ve been through has said that he is if not equally, a more culpable offender, in this crime.”

Getsy said he didn’t know either of the victims in the case. He said he initially thought it was Charles Serafino when he fired in the hallway of the home on the night of the crime.

“I was not aware, at the time, that it was her,” he said, referring to the murder victim.

“I was under the belief that Mr. Serafino was the only one [in the home].”

He added, “Even as it was unfolding, I couldn’t believe that it was happening. ... [It was] almost like I was standing on the outside watching it happen but ... I believed at the time that ... I didn’t have a choice.

Getsy said he hoped the Serafino family would “be able to heal. What can you say? I mean, there’s, of course, I’m sorry. ... But that seems so little. You know, really, what can you say? ... There’s nothing that I can do to undo what was done. I mean, I love them. I’m very concerned for their well being and, like I said, everyday I pray for their healing, for them to find peace somehow.”

Asked what he would do if the governor grants him clemency, Getsy said he would use his life as an example to warn others headed down similar paths.

“The first thing that I would want to do is get somewhere and check the chaplain service and maybe see what I can do there,” he said.

“Maybe I can talk to some people. Maybe some of the kids who are coming into the system with some of the same anger that I had in my heart when I was a kid, I can show them how carrying the love of Christ in your heart is a lot better than carrying around that anger.”