Man who killed sheriff in 1982 denied parole
CRIME & THE COURTS
A man who shot and killed the Union County sheriff almost 36 years ago will spend at least another decade in prison after the Ohio Parole Board denied his latest request for freedom.
Stanley Penn, 68, was convicted in 1983 of aggravated murder and other charges related to killing Sheriff Harry Wolfe, who responded to a residential alarm at a house in rural Union County on Jan. 21, 1982. Wolfe, who was on his way back from transporting an inmate to prison, responded alone and encountered Penn, who grabbed Wolfe’s revolver from his holster and shot and killed the sheriff in the driveway.
Current Union County Sheriff Jamie Patton, Wolfe’s son and others had met earlier with a representative of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s parole board to argue that Penn should never be released.
Following a hearing at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution, the parole board on Monday denied Penn’s request, citing his long and violent criminal history and the likelihood that he would commit more crimes and be a danger to the public.
Law-enforcement officers from across the state, through a letterwriting campaign, had argued against Penn’s release. Patton had previously said that to release Penn “would send a very clear message that blue lives don’t matter.”