WARREN - Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins has written to the Ohio Adult Parole Authority opposing the release of an inmate who is up for parole in April.

According to the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office, 51-year-old Samuel Totts is up for parole in April. He is serving a sentence of 23 years to life on charges of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery, stemming from the shooting death of 24-year-old Derrick Trimble in 1994.

The crime happened when Totts and another man were playing dice with Trimble, when Totts demanded that Trimble hand over his gold necklace at gunpoint.

Prosecutors say Trimble put his hands up and asked Totts not to shoot him, but Totts shot him in the back when he tried to run away. Trimble died of his injuries.

Totts avoided the death penalty by entering a plea deal before his trial was set to go forward in 1995.

Watkins said Totts's behavior has not changed since he was last up for parole in June of 2024. Watkins says since then, Totts has used his job as an inmate barber to distribute illegal drugs within multiple cell blocks of the Grafton Correctional Institution, where he is imprisoned.

"Totts is not ready for prime time. And most importantly, any release now with only having served a minimum amount of time for such a brutal, premeditated murder would only diminish the seriousness of his violent crimes," Watkins said.

Members of the public may submit comments on Totts's potential parole here.