WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) — For the third time this year, the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office wrote the state parole board opposing the release of a man convicted of killing another man who fell off a bicycle.
In a letter to the board released Friday, Assistant Trumbull County Prosecutor Chris Becker said that Benjamin Green, 40, should remain in prison because he has expressed no remorse for his crime and his behavior has escalated over the last few years while he has been locked up.
Green was sentenced Feb. 7, 2002, by Judge Peter Kontos in common pleas court to 18 years to life in prison on a murder charge for the Aug. 28, 2000, shooting death of John Williamson, 18.
Williamson was riding a bicycle down a Warren street in front of Green when he fell off the bike, Becker wrote. Green then shot and killed Williamson as he was lying in the street.
Green said he was afraid Williamson might have a gun and he was scared, but Becker said in his letter Williamson wasn’t even 100 pounds, and he was lying defenseless in the middle of the street when he was killed.
Green has a parole hearing coming up in November. Letters were sent from the prosecutor’s office to the board in April and May opposing his parole.
In prison, Green has a history of fighting and assaulting other inmates and also of fashioning homemade weapons, Becker wrote.
