Eugene Blake

WHEELING – The Ohio Parole Board on Thursday announced its decision to deny parole for three-time murder convict Eugene Blake.

Blake will not be eligible for another parole hearing for another 10 years. He will remain incarcerated and in the custody of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections and will be 87 years old before his next hearing is scheduled.

Although Blake had only served a little more than 13 years on a sentence of 20 years to life for the aggravated murder in 1982 of Lansing resident Mark Withers, he became eligible for a parole hearing this month in light of jail credits for time already served combined with an Ohio law requiring only 70% of a minimum sentence to be served unless a sentencing entry specifically stated 20 full years to life.

Blake’s hearing took place June 2.

According to the Ohio Parole Board’s official entry on the decision, state officials believed it was likely that Blake would continue engaging in criminal activity if he were to be released – an argument emphatically expressed by the Belmont County Prosecutor’s Office, as well as surviving victims who Blake sexually assaulted and family members of the victims he killed.

“After weighing all relevant factors, the board — by way of majority vote — has determined that release at this time would not further the interest of justice given the unique elements of the crime of conviction, and it is likely that he would engage in additional criminal activity,” the parole board stated. “Offender Blake has served over 13 years for the shooting death of a male victim. He admits to sexually abusing a female victim involved in this incident as well. He is a multi-state offender with multiple murder convictions.”

Although the Ohio Parole Board members agreed that Blake’s conduct “has been acceptable” while incarcerated at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution, they noted that he has “failed to engage in risk relevant programming.”

The parole board voted 5-0 to deny parole, according to the entry, which stated the case will be continued until the next review date of June 1, 2032.

On Thursday, Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan said the Ohio Parole Board not only made the correct decision in denying Blake parole, he said denying his parole is the “only decision” that could ever be issued.

“We have spent time with many victims of violence over the years, and that unfortunately includes the family members of homicide victims,” Flanagan said. “The evilness involved in cruelly and purposely taking a life cannot be expressed in words. Eugene Blake does not deserve parole now or ever. With multiple murders, he has forfeited his right to live in a free society.”

Prior to Blake’s parole hearing, the Belmont County Prosecutor’s Office sent a detailed letter to the Ohio Parole Board urging them to not even consider his parole.

“We applaud the parole board for taking notice,” Flanagan said. “The denial of parole to the convicted-multiple murderer and sex offender was the right decision. It was the only just decision.”

Flanagan had expressed confidence that Blake would never again see the light of day outside of the Ohio prison system. Prior to the parole board’s announcement Thursday, however, he noted that he understood the victims and their family members’ concerns that the panel may consider Blake’s advanced age and good behavior behind bars as factors that could lead to his release.

“Clearly they did the right thing,” Richard Withers, cousin of Mark Withers, said on Thursday. “We’re just relieved. Not just for our loss, but for all of the other families that have had to go through this.”

Mark Withers was shot to death in Gould Park in 1982 at the age of 21. A 17-year-old female companion Withers was with in a vehicle at the time not only endured witnessing the fatal shooting, but was then raped by Blake. She survived the encounter.

At that time, Blake had been released from the West Virginia prison system after serving only 10 years for the 1967 murder of Donna Jean Ball in Wayne County, West Virginia. He was convicted in that case and sentenced in 1969 to life without mercy. However, his sentence was commuted because of good behavior, and he was released in 1979.

The Withers murder case had gone cold for more than 26 years before modern DNA technology linked the suspect hit on Blake, who was incarcerated in West Virginia again for yet another murder – the 1984 murder of 13-year-old Hope Helmbright in Wheeling.

Blake’s history of getting released and reoffending had family members worried, Richard Withers noted, describing the perpetrator as “cold blooded” yet “highly intelligent” and manipulative.

On Thursday, Richard Withers said he and his family member had been informed by the victims advocate in Columbus that Blake’s parole had been denied, and they all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“They do not always get it right, but they did this time,” Richard Withers said. “It kinda restores my faith in the justice system.”