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WARREN - A former Mineral Ridge man is seeking parole after spending the majority of his life behind bars.
Christopher Ferrell, 48, began his sentence at age 17 for the 1992 slaying of 19-year-old Douglas Lash in Newton Township.
Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins is looking to extend his stay inside the confines of the Lebanon Correctional Institution in Lebanon -- the longtime prosecutor has penned a letter in opposition to Ferrell's release, which is a topic set for a hearing with the parole board in March.
In the early 1990s, Watkins prosecuted the aggravated murder case that resulted in a life sentence handed down by former Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Peter J. Kontos.
Since then, Ferrell has spent nearly four decades in prison.
He was last denied parole in 2013 with the state board imposing a maximum 10-year wait between then and his hearing next month.
In his opposition letter Watkins wrote, "In short, Ferrell is a sociopath who needs to be locked up for the rest of his natural life. The best proof to justify this recommendation is actual behavior. With him there is a disgusting overload of it."
Recently, Watkins remarked that Ferrell was found guilty of five rule infractions, noting a reluctance for the inmate to follow correction officers instructions.
FACTS OF THE CASE
On Feb. 11, 1992, Ferrell and three other teens burglarized Lash's Newton Township house after he returned
home from working at a local grocery store, interrupting the crime in progress.
Lash confronted the group with a machete. Ferrell pointed a .380 caliber pistol at him and took him into the living room with his hands behind his head and then told him to kneel down.
Ferrell, for no apparent reason, shot him in the back of the head, according to statements from the other teens.
Ferrell instructed Elsmore to shoot the victim a second time. The group then threw a blanket over Lash's body and left the home with stolen goods.
All four suspects were arrested by Trumbull County Sheriff's deputies within a month.
Watkins said while Ferrell was incarcerated in Trumbull County jail he told the 13-year-old to admit to shooting the victim twice since he would not be tried as an adult.
The 13-year-old, along with the two other 17-year-olds, who didn't handle the gun, have since been released from prison.
Elsmore was tried as a juvenile, ordered to remain in juvenile detention until he turned 21.
The crime took place seven days before Ferrell's 18th birthday.
Watkins previously stated that had Ferrell been a year older he most likely would have faced a potential death penalty.
"Ferrell was known to tote a sawed-off shotgun and prior to killing Mr. Lash, had duct-taped to a chair and terrorized an elderly, deaf woman with the
shotgun," according to Watkins' in a
previous letter written to the parole board.