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Ohio Parole Board Recommends No Clemency for Killer of Two Parma Residents

picture of execution bed
STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU
Gary Otte gave his mercy plea during an interview with the state parole board last month.

The state parole board has released its recommendation on whether Gov. John Kasich should spare the life of a man who killed two people in back-to-back robberies in Parma almost exactly 25 years ago.

Kasich took some unrelated action on executions while waiting on that report.

The parole board unanimously recommended Kasich reject clemency for 45-year-old Gary Otte, who shot two people in their apartments in back-to-back robberies in Parma on February 12 and 13, 1992.

Otte was sentenced to die for the murders of 61-year-old Robert Wasikowski and 45-year-old Sharon Kostura. The parole board says those crimes were senseless, callous and "henious", and that Otte had made many wrong choices in his life that he got a fair trial.

Kasich has not issued a decision on clemency for Otte yet, but he did delay his March 15 execution till June 13. Kasich moved back eight executions because no ruling is expected in the court battle over Ohio's lethal injection method before the first scheduled execution on February 15.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.