Local lawmaker fights parole for killer of Warren store clerk
WARREN, Ohio - State Representative Michael O'Brien is on a mission to keep a convicted killer behind bars.
The former Mayor of Warren is circulating petitions to be presented to the Ohio Parole Authority this month, asking that parole be denied to 62-year old Pompie Wade.
While on parole for manslaughter in 1975, Wade shot and killed a store clerk while robbing a Warren beverage store.The victim was Dominic Chiarella, the father of Dr. David Chiarella, a well known pediatric psychologist and a best friend of O'Brien.
"I'm close with the family, the victim's two sons in the Warren area and as a state representative I feel that it would be just uncanny for this man to be released back into civilization for such a brutal crime while he was on parole for manslaughter," O'Brien said.
O'Brien says he's been surprised by some the statements made by people signing the petition.
"It was 40 years ago, yet people that sign the petition nod their heads and remember vividly the brutal accounts of the robbery homicide and go on to tell me where they were when the homicide happened," said O'Brien.
He says he expects have one thousand signatures on the petitions.
"So the community is saying to the parole authority, do not release this man and keep him incarcerated for the rest of his life," O'Brien said.
Wade has twice before been denied parole.
