Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Staff report
WARREN
With a hearing scheduled in July before the Ohio Parole Board, Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins has written a letter urging the parole board to keep Christopher W. Daniel in prison for his role in a deadly 1989 attack on an elderly couple.
Daniel, 46, has served 26 years of a 37-to-100 years sentence for murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary in the death of George Melnick and the assault on his wife, Katherine, in their Wick Street Southeast home.
Daniel is eligible for release back into society.
Daniel participated in the crimes with Andre Williams, who is on death row for killing George Melnick, 65.
Watkins has told the parole board in the past that Daniel nearly killed Katherine, 64, when he hit her in the head with a brick as he and Williams entered the back of the home to commit a robbery.
Daniel, then 19, also assaulted Mrs. Melnick with an ax handle.
The damage left her blind with permanent brain injuries, Watkins said.
She died at age 88 in 2012, having spent the remaining 24 years of her life in nursing homes or the hospital.
“Without question, this case resonates like few others for its pure evil in my 31-year career as the prosecuting attorney for Trumbull County,” Watkins said in the letter.