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Inmate for 3 decades
Killer who took hostages at hospital bound for parole
Alan Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch, January 15, 2011

Paul R. Brumfield, a convicted murderer who used a fake gun made from paper and shoe polish to seize hostages at Riverside Hospital in 1984, has been tentatively approved for parole from prison for the second time.

The Ohio Parole Board staff approved Brumfield's parole Dec.9, said Brian Niceswanger, spokesman for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. However, his parole is subject to a public hearing by the full board - if the prosecutor or victims request it.

That hasn't happened yet, Niceswanger said.

Brumfield does not have a specific release date.

It is the latest chance for Brumfield, who was paroled with no fanfare on April 7, 2006, only to return to prison nearly three years later on a parole violation.

Brumfield, 63, went to prison in 1976 for rape, kidnapping and murder. About a month after walking away from the former Columbus State Hospital, Brumfield had killed Larry A. Caseman, 23, of Whitehall; kidnapped and raped Caseman's 19-year-old fiancee; and robbed the Neil Pharmacy on E. Livingston Ave., all on Dec. 8, 1975.

He was sentenced to 30 years to life.

Brumfield added to his criminal record in May 1984 during a trip to Riverside Hospital for follow-up treatment after lung surgery. Using the phony gun and a handcuffs key fashioned from plastic, Brumfield took a guard's gun away and seized two other guards, two nurses, a doctor and another inmate as hostages.

After a 12-hour standoff, Brumfield surrendered.

He was found not guilty by reason of insanity in a 1986 trial in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

Then-Judge Dale Crawford refused to send Brumfield to a psychiatric hospital despite the jury's verdict.

"I am not going to give you what you want," he told Brumfield. "I am not going to send a message to prisoners at Lucasville that they can take hostages and then be transferred to a hospital."

Brumfield was returned to prison to continue serving his 1976 sentence. He is now in the Warren Correctional Institution in Lebanon.

Bret Vinocur, a Columbus victims advocate and president of Block Parole Inc., said Brumfield definitely should not be paroled again.

"He's done absolutely nothing to better himself," Vinocur said. "He murdered one, raped one, then nine years later took 10 people hostage. How do you justify releasing this guy?"

 

 
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