Man convicted of killing Lake Milton bar owner in 1976 faces fourth try for parole
The Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office is opposing any possible parole of killer Gary Allen Betz.
Betz, 69, is incarcerated in Marion Correctional Institution serving a 22-year to life sentence on convictions of aggravated robbery and aggravated murder.
Parole opposed by Trumbull prosecutor Dennis Watkins
A recent newsletter from Prosecutor Dennis Watkins stated that Betz will be eligible for a fourth parole when he is interviewed by members of the Ohio Adult Parole Authority sometime this month outside his prison cell in Marion Correctional Institution.
Betz was convicted in the shotgun shooting death of a Lake Milton tavern owner in 1976.
Watkins noted Betz was paroled twice from prison prior to the killing of Ron Goche. After shooting him point blank in the face, Betz robbed Goche of $138 in bar receipts.
Numerous letters from Watkins to the parole board detail why Betz should not be released to society.
After spending 30 years in state prison, Betz was paroled for a third time in 2007 despite strong opposition from the victim’s family and the prosecutor’s officer.
After being released, Betz managed to find himself in trouble behind the wheel. He was arrested for three DUIs in Minerva, Carrollton and Columbiana County in 2008, 2010 and 2011.
These violations of parole terms sent Betz back to prison.
‘One of the worst of the worst cold-blooded premeditated murders’
In a previous letter protesting his release, Watkins called Betz’s crime “one of the worst of the worst cold-blooded premeditated murders of a helpless person one person could envision.”
In Nov. 20, 1975, records show Betz was sentenced to the Ohio State Penitentiary on a breaking and entering conviction in Columbiana County.
He was released from his second prison term’s parole supervision about a month before Goche was murdered, Watkins said.
Testimony at the Trumbull County murder trial before a three-judge panel in 1977 indicated that Betz shot Goche in the face with a sawed-off shotgun at point-blank range. The man came into Goche’s bar — the Riviera Inn — to rob it. A witness told the court he overheard
the bar owner tell Betz to take the day’s receipts of $138 and he wouldn’t call authorities.
Betz fatally shot Goche anyway, Watkins said. Betz’s last words to the victim were: “… don’t worry, we won’t get in trouble.”
“Only a sociopath could commit such a crime, and that is why he always will be a risk to the public,” Watkins writes the parole board. “Please don’t release him on parole for the fourth time. You’re dealing with quintessential evil.”
According to the case file, Betz told the parole board in 2007 he had an autoimmune deficiency that causes skin and joint problems and that 50 percent of victims die within five years, but Watkins said he was not allowed to examine medical evidence of the condition.
In fact, Betz apparent joint problem didn’t prevent him from repeatedly driving a vehicle drunk after he was released for a third time on parole in 2007, Watkins wrote. The DUIs returned him to prison. One police officer who arrested Betz gave him the moniker “super drunk.”
Now some 16 years later, Watkins said, Betz is still very much alive and again asking for freedom.
“Just say no!” the prosecutor stated.
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