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WARREN -- A man who was convicted of murdering a man along a Warren street in August 2000 is scheduled for a parole hearing this month and the Trumbull County Prosecutor's office is opposing his release.
Benjamin Green, who turns 40 in August, has spent the last 21 years of his life in prison. This month, he will be questioned by members of the Ohio Parole Authority outside his cell at Ross Correctional Institution with hopes of being released.
Four years ago, the 11th District Court of Appeals upheld an earlier ruling by a Trumbull County judge denying Benjamin Green's motion to withdraw his January 2002 guilty plea for murder in the shooting death of John Williamson, 18.
According to records, Green was just 16 years old when he fired four shots at Williamson as he rode his bicycle near Austin Avenue and Oak Street SW. One shot hit Williamson in the back of the head, killing him.
Green told detectives shortly afterward he shot the bicyclist because he thought he might have a gun on him. In his appeal to withdraw his plea, Green claimed evidence from this interrogation was obtained illegally because he was not accompanied by a lawyer. The appellate court ruled that Green had signed a statement waiving his Miranda right to have a lawyer present when interviewed by detectives.
On Feb. 7, 2002, former Judge Peter Kontos sentenced Green to serve 18 years to life in prison.
In a letter to the parole board dated April 24, 2023, Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Becker said Green is a brutal, calculated and cold-blooded killer who executed his victim who stood just 4-foot-3 and weighed 97 pounds.
"The defendant claims he was afraid of the victim, but yet shot and killed him without the victim so much as threatening the defendant, let alone doing anything that would warrant his death," Becker wrote.
Becker said Green has continued his violent ways while in prison. His behavior record as an inmate includes weapons in his possession, fights with correction officers and other inmates, and refusals to comply with reasonable requests made by guards, Becker states, saying his worst behavior has occurred in the last five to six years of his incarceration.
"The defendant has clearly demonstrated he cannot control his behavior … he is certainly not suitable for parole," Becker writes. "Balancing the public safety and this defendants' rehabilitation, it is clear that scales tip overwhelmingly in favor of (Green's) continued incarceration."
If the board decides to grant parole to Green, Becker said his office would request a hearing of the full board before Green is allowed to go free.
Laura E. Austen, deputy director, Policy and Outreach for the Office of the Ohio Public Defender, said she does not comment on pending parole cases for inmates.