Editorial: Deadly silence
Revive 'Roberta's Law' to give victims voice to prevent risky paroles
Editorial, The Columbus Dispatch, February 7, 2011

Ohioans need a new law to prevent its parole board, composed of nine civil-service workers, from releasing dangerous criminals without notifying victims.

That nearly happened again a few weeks ago, but a community activist surfing the Web spotted the pending release of murderer, rapist and kidnapper Paul R. Brumfield. This volunteer, using the White Pages, tracked down a victim's family and also alerted The Dispatch, which ran a story. The parole board backed down.

"It was learned that there were some interested parties who did not previously have an opportunity to speak to the parole board," said JoEllen Smith, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

"It was learned" not through the efforts of the parole board, which should serve as the last line of defense between criminals and their next victim, but through the work of a vigilant citizen. Bret Vinocur, of FindMissingKids.com, isn't paid for this dedicated work.

The Ohio Parole Board, whose members were paid nearly $804,000 last year, makes life-and-death decisions, but may lack relevant facts about an inmate's crime. These telling details could be revealed in testimony from those who have survived unspeakable horrors or by relatives of those who did not.

Compounding the problem is that Ohio has a two-tiered parole system. A 1996 law created a system to notify victims and relatives when an inmate is being considered for parole. Victims and relatives must sign up for such notifications. Before that law mandated better victim services, no notification list existed, and the state is not obligated to look for these earlier victims. These victims could sign up for notification but many aren't aware the option exists. This is a problem.

An attempt was made to fix it in 2007 when Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Columbus, then a member of the Ohio Senate, introduced "Roberta's Law." This would have required the state to attempt to notify victims of parole hearings. But his bill died of neglect in the legislature.

It is time for the current General Assembly to protect Ohioans and try a second time to enact "Roberta's Law."

The bill is named for Roberta Francis, a Columbus 15-year-old raped and beaten to death on her way home from school in 1974. The state has released Roberta's killer three times. All three times, he again attacked vulnerable victims.

His last parole attempt failed only after Vinocur tracked down Roberta's father, who pleaded with the parole board.

The bill also sought to close a loophole that allows some parolees to skirt Ohio's sex-offender registration law. And the bill would have added transparency, requiring the parole board to provide documentation, currently kept secret, supporting its reasons for release.

Brumfield, who as a prisoner seized hostages at Riverside Methodist Hospital in 1984 in an escape attempt, will get a new parole hearing in March. This time, his murder victim's family will get a say.

Past releases show the danger of what happens when no victim is alerted to fight.

On Oct. 2, 1983, a Columbus woman asked a neighbor to turn down his loud radio. Roddrick Suttles responded by beating, binding, choking and raping her. He made a game of her torture, offering her choices. He tried to electrocute her, twice. That didn't work; he tried suffocation. That didn't work; he slit her wrists and neck. That didn't work; he poured kerosene in her mouth.

Left for dead, she managed to crawl nude and bloody into the street to summon help.

Suttles drew a sentence of 37 to 100 years in prison. The Ohio Parole Board released him after 25 years, on Nov. 18; he lives at 1003 Oakwood Ave. No victim came forward, and without Roberta's Law, the board wasn't required to look for one.