Prosecutor’s office opposes potential parole of man convicted in Hubbard murder-for-hire case
The Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office is opposing the potential parole of convicted murderer John Santine.
Officials said Santine was the mastermind of the murder-for-hire scheme that ended up in the murder of Hubbard woman Ann Serafino in 1995.
He was convicted in March 1997 on charges of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, attempted aggravated murder with a three-year gun specification, for the murder and attempted murder of Charles Serafino, during the early morning hours of July 7, 1995 at the Serafino residence in Hubbard.
Santine was sentenced to a 43-year-to-life prison sentence.
In an April 2 letter to the Parole Board, Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said Santine did not deserve to be freed.
“This man has yet to serve his minimum sentence and deserves no mercy or release by this Parole Board or any other in the future,” he wrote.
Officials said Santine was one of four people convicted in the murder-for-hire scheme. One of them, Jason Getsy, was executed by the state of Ohio in August 2009 at the age of 33 after Gov. Strickland rejected his clemency bid.
According to court documents, Santine offered to pay co-defendant Ben Hudach, along with co-defendants Getsy and Rick McNulty, $5,000 to kill Charles Serafino and any witness.
Officials said the crime was orchestrated because Santine was in a dispute over ownership of a landscaping business with Charles Serafino.
According to evidence, Charles Serafino was lying wounded on the floor when Getsy struck his mother, Ann, in the head with a revolver, opening a 4-inch gash, and then shot her twice, killing her.
Santine is facing the Ohio Adult Parole Authority in a bid for freedom later this month.