49 years later: Parole hearing set in 1976 Warren store clerk slaying

Pompie Wade Jr.

Pompie Wade Jr., convicted of the 1976 murder of a Warren store clerk while on parole for manslaughter, is scheduled for a parole hearing in August, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Wade, 71, has been imprisoned for 49 years and is serving a life sentence for the aggravated murder of 51-year-old Dominic Chiarella, who was shot and killed during a robbery at the Austin Beverage Store in Warren.

Court records indicate that on Dec. 29, 1975, during the robbery at the store located in the Austin Village Plaza, Chiarella and another employee, Frederick C. Piersol, were shot. Chiarella died from his injuries, and Piersol was seriously wounded.

Later that evening, acting on information from a service station attendant about the robbery suspects’ vehicle, police stopped a car with the provided license plate number. A search of the occupants, Wade and Moses Hurd, and the vehicle revealed multiple .32-caliber bullets, a shotgun, a .32-caliber revolver, a ski mask identified as similar to one used in the robbery, and food items carried by the Austin Beverage Store.

Wade was indicted by a Trumbull County grand jury on charges of aggravated murder with specifications, attempted aggravated murder, and aggravated robbery.

This will be Wade’s fourth parole hearing. His previous requests for release were denied, most recently in 2015.

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, who prosecuted Wade as an assistant prosecutor in 1976, has consistently opposed his release. In a December 2024 letter, Watkins emphasized that Wade was on parole for a 1975 manslaughter conviction at the time of Chiarella’s murder.

The parole board will consider factors such as Wade’s conduct in prison, the severity of the crime, and statements from the victim’s family and other interested parties when making its decision. Chiarella was the father of Dr. David Chiarella, a pediatric psychologist.