Published: Sunday, April 8, 2007
Victim's family continues to fight parole for killer
Parole hearings churn up sadness for the family of a war hero shot to death in 1974.
By TIM YOVICH
HARTFORD — Every few years or so, when murderer James Teague comes up for parole, his victim's family has to relive the tragedy.
"They almost feel like, you might as well just let him out," says James Earnhart of Hartford, whose father will shot to death by Teague.
That, however, is not what the family and the Trumbull County prosecutor want to happen.
Teague is serving a life sentence for the June 8, 1974, shooting of Earnhart's father, Charles, and the armed robbery of his mother at their combined pharmacy and home in Masury.
The elder Earnhart was a retired bus driver and World War II pilot, having been in a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany for two years. He was eating a sandwich when Teague fatally wounded him.
His wife, Helen, was the pharmacist who was robbed.
Sentenced to life
Because there was no death penalty in Ohio when Teague was convicted May 12, 1975, he was sentenced to life in prison.
The 56-year-old sits in his cell at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution. The Ohio Parole Board has recommended that he be released.
JoEllen Lyons, parole board spokeswoman, said one board member and a hearing officer conducted a panel hearing, with the recommendation that parole be granted.
Teague would have been released from Ohio custody last week if not for opposition raised by Dennis Watkins, county prosecutor; and the Earnhart family. Also, Pennsylvania authorities want him.
If he is paroled, he would be released to Pennsylvania because he's been convicted of two armed robberies in that state, Lyons explained.
Watkins, who prosecuted Teague in 1975, will appear at a May 15 hearing before the entire nine-member parole board, or at least a majority of them.
In a letter to the board, Watkins called Teague's actions part of a two-state "crime wave."
"His clear record of anti-social behavior and violence demands that the public be protected from any future acts of violence and murder by keeping the defendant incarcerated for the remainder of his life," Watkins wrote.
Family ties
James Earnhart is the father of Jason Earnhart, now a magistrate in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court where Teague was convicted. Jason Earnhart wasn't yet born when his grandfather was murdered, although his middle name is Charles in honor of him.
James Earnhart has strong emotions about Teague. "It's hard to describe," he said. "It's uncomfortable every time it [parole] comes up. ... I can't tell you how many letters I've written" to the parole board. "It's painful."
Earnhart was 23 years old and living in western Ohio when he got the phone call that his father had been shot.
"We have to constantly live with it. I'm sure he has to live with it, too," he said of Teague.
He recalls his mother on the witness stand testifying against Teague, because she'd been in the next room when her husband was killed.
"It was very traumatic for her," Earnhart said of his mother, who died in 2002.
During one of her physical checkups, it was determined that she had suffered a heart attack. She had been unaware of the attack. Earnhart said it may have resulted from the emotional stress of her husband's death.
If Teague had been eligible for the death penalty and sentenced to die for his crimes, there would never have been parole hearings that churn up sadness for Earnhart, his brother and four sisters.
Why he continues
But Earnhart is certain that he must continue to oppose Teague's parole because he knows his parents would do the same for him.
Earnhart is neutral on the death penalty: "I don't feel like I have to exact that type of punishment," he said.
Earnhart hasn't seen Teague since the trial, and says he has no interest in meeting him.
He'll be attending the parole hearing in Columbus to try and find out what kind of rationale the board member and hearing officer used to rule on Teague's parole. Perhaps, he suggests, Teague has been rehabilitated.
Teague has a risk factor of five of committing another offense if released, according to the parole ruling document. Lyons explained that the scale runs from zero to eight with the highest number being the highest risk factor.
"I really feel he's a criminal; he's a murderer," Earnhart said, noting that he was sentenced to life in prison and that's where he should spend it.
"Life is life," he said.
Earnhart explained that he and his family aren't frightened that Teague will harm them if he's set free, though they sometimes have "irrational" moments and it "creeps into our thoughts."
Earnhart is a private person and talks of what has happened only to his family and close friends.
"I really don't like to talk about it. It's very personal," he said. "I kind of deal with it on my own. It upsets me."
If Teague is paroled, he isn't going anywhere.
He was sentenced in March 19, 1976, in Mercer County Common Pleas Court to two five- to 20-year sentences for two robberies. They will be served one after another.
Samuel Zuck, first assistant district attorney in Mercer County, said that in cases such Teague's, Ohio authorities will notify his office if parole is granted.
He would be held in prison until extradited to Pennsylvania. He would then begin serving his sentence there.
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