WARREN - Serving a total of 19 years in prison for a sentence of 18 to 85 years is not enough time behind bars for Roosevelt Gray, according to the county prosecutor.
Gray was convicted as a teenager for taking part in a deadly robbery outside a Warren restaurant in late 1992.
Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said he opposes Gray's release from Madison Correctional Institution because it would ''demean the seriousness of his offenses and would surely pose a danger to the community. In short, it may be unfair to keep him in prison to the expiration of his maximum sentence in 2080, however, it is certainly not unfair to keep him to 2050,'' Watkins wrote to Ohio's Parole Board.
Gray, 37, formerly of Alliance, is up for parole later this month.
Gray was 17 when he pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated robbery and receiving stolen property, and received the prison sentence after agreeing to testify against his 23-year-old cousin, Ibn Shakoor, as the triggerman in the murder.
Shakoor, formerly of Youngstown, is serving a life sentence for the murder of Joseph Muscardelli, 21, who was shot outside Sir Bentley's Restaurant on Mahoning Avenue N.W.
Muscardelli and his fiancee, Beverly Schofield, were getting out of their car in the parking lot Dec. 29, 1992, when the two gunmen approached and robbed the couple. After Muscardelli handed over his wallet, Shakoor shot him three times in the chest. Schofield was not injured.
Gray was bound over to a grand jury out of juvenile court to face charges as an adult.
Watkins pointed out to parole board members an extensive juvenile record Gray had before the murder.
''He went from violent crime with juvenile justice intervention in Stark and Mahoning Counties to more violent crime, including homicide in adult court in Trumbull County,'' Watkins wrote.