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Home News Injustice in Ohio Jason Getsy:U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear appeal Jason Getsy:U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear appeal
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
WARREN — The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from the federal appellate court from Hubbard killer Jason Getsy.
Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor LuWayne Annos said Monday that a new execution date for Getsy may not be sought until after the U.S. Supreme Court decides the lethal injection issue as early as this spring.
In July, 14 federal appellate judges reinstated the death penalty for Getsy, striking down a claim that the sentence was disproportionate since a co-defendant was spared the death penalty.
Getsy, formerly of Hubbard, was convicted in 1995 of aggravated murder in the slaying of Ann Serafino, 68, of Hubbard, and of the attempted murder of her son, Charles Serafino.
Prosecutors said John Santine offered Getsy and two others $5,000 to kill Charles Serafino, a business rival, and any witnesses because of a dispute over Serafino’s landscaping business. Ann Serafino was killed because she was at home when the gunmen attacked, authorities said.
Santine, whose trial was moved to Jefferson County after publicity over the Getsy trial, was convicted on an aggravated murder charge. Other co-defendants — Richard McNulty and Ben Hudach, who pleaded guilty — were sentenced to life in prison, a three-judge panel with the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals court noted in their decision that set the death penalty aside in 2006.
Only Getsy was found guilty of murder-for-hire and was sentenced to death.
The Ohio Supreme Court let Getsy’s death sentence stand. But later the 6th Circuit said the sentence was disproportionate because Santine was equally, if not more, guilty.
The three-judge panel also said the death sentence violated an Eighth Amendment ‘‘arbitrariness’’ standard because other defendants in the case were sentenced to life in prison.
An enbanc collection — or full panel of federal appellate judges — decided in December of 2006 to hear the appeal after the 2-1 decision.
Assistant attorney General Daniel Ranke argued for the state with attorney Michael Benza of Cleveland representing Getsy — one of 10 death row inmates from Trumbull County.
Ranke informed Annos of the high court’s decision to not hear the appeal.
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