Mahoning County man denied parole for shooting causing two deaths
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Parole was denied for Guillum Chism by the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday, Sept. 14 at a hearing before the Ohio Parole Board.
Chism was charged with Felonious Assault, Aggravated Robbery and Attempted Aggravated Murder for an incident on Sept. 22, 1988, during which Chism alongside three accomplices entered an apartment in the Kimmel Brook Housing Project in Youngstown robbing three men at gunpoint, followed by shooting them.
Two of the men died and were found in the apartment in varying states of nudity, while the third man survived after being shot in the face by Chism and is permanently blind and confined to a wheelchair.
Chism and co-defendants, Clinton Purdue, Gary Austin and Ira Bray were indicted on four counts of Aggravated Murder, two counts of Aggravated Robbery and two counts of Aggravated Attempted Murder, all with attached Firearm Specifications.
Chism proceeded to a jury trial, in which he was sentenced to a term of 10 to 25 years in the penitentiary for each count of Aggravated Robbery and 7 to 25 years for Attempted Aggravated Murder.
While the Appellate Court merged Chism's Firearm Specifications on the Aggravated Robbery counts, it allowed them to run consecutively to the Firearm Specification on the Attempted Aggravated Murder charge for a total of six years in specifications.
Chism arrived in the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) on Dec. 8, 1989 and has remained incarcerated since. Co-defendants Purdue and Bray are also still incarcerated for their roles in the incident.
According to Chief of the Criminal Division of the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office, Jennifer McLaughlin, even though Chism has participated in numerous programs and activities while incarcerated, his disciplinary history includes multiple contraband infractions, as well as a violent altercation with another inmate on May 22, 2020.
"While his history in the ODRC does not appear unfavorable, it is his conduct as a free man that raises grave concern," McLaughlin said. "This is not a case where Chism was a passive participant. He shot a man in the face," she said.
The parole board agreed with McLaughlin's concerns, voting seven to three in favor of denying Chism parole.
Chism will be eligible for parole again in 2026.
