Convicted killer Daniel Wilson received sympathy but no mercy from the Ohio Parole Board, which has unanimously recommended that Gov. Ted Strickland reject Wilson`s clemency request.

Wilson, 39, is scheduled to be executed June 3 for the May 4, 1991, murder of Carol Lutz.

In its clemency report released Friday, Parole Board members wrote that they were sympathetic to Wilson`s childhood in which he was abandoned by his mother to live with an alcoholic and abusive father.

Wilson`s father would lock Wilson and his brothers in their bedroom and forbid them from using the restroom for hours as well as beating, berating and handcuffing them to chairs, Wilson`s brother David Wilson said in a DVD sent to Strickland`s office.

But Wilson`s troubled childhood and his own abuse of alcohol didn`t outweigh the crime he committed, the Parole Board concluded.

The report said Wilson carefully considered his options.

“After this lengthy consideration, Mr. Wilson chose to take the victim`s life,” the report said.

Wilson kidnapped Lutz after they had been drinking together at the Empire Bar in Elyria and kept her locked in the trunk of her own car as he drove around the greater Cleveland area, stopping at one point to talk to a gas station worker he knew in the Akron area for 1½ hours.

Wilson told the Parole Board he didn`t remember how Lutz got in the trunk of the car because he was drunk at the time. He also said that Lutz pleaded with him to release her.

Instead, Wilson tried twice to light the car on fire. His first effort, when shoving a rag in the gas tank, failed.

The second time, Wilson said he punctured the gas tank and let it leak onto a towel or blanket and the set the car ablaze in the parking lot of Northwood Junior High School with Lutz still alive in the trunk.

“He was asked what he did next. He responded that he walked away and never looked back,” the report said of the Parole Board`s interview with Wilson.

Wilson had asked for mercy during an April 17 interview with the Parole Board.

In a written statement that Wilson read to the board that was part of the report released Friday, he said he was sorry for killing both Lutz and Frank Cebula, an 81-year-old neighbor Wilson beat and left lying injured in Cebula`s home. Cebula died six days later, and Wilson, then 14, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

“I know that they won`t accept or believe me, but I would like both families to know how truly sorry I am for the pain that I caused them and for taking Carol and Frank from them,” Wilson wrote.

Wilson said – and the Parole Board agreed – that he has been a model prisoner, working as a GED tutor and typist for fellow prisoners while on death row.

Wilson asked the board that he be allowed to serve a life prison sentence instead of being executed.

“I ask that you have mercy on the man that I am now and not vengeance on the man I was 18 years ago,” he wrote.

At the Parole Board clemency hearing last month, Lutz`s family said they had no sympathy for Wilson and asked that he be executed as planned. They also said they didn`t believe that Wilson was truly sorry.

Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will said he was pleased with the Parole Board`s decision. He said Wilson`s sentence should be carried out.

“I didn`t hear any reason for them to even consider clemency, so I don`t see any reason to change the sentence that has been assessed,” Will said Friday.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Vicki Werneke, one of Wilson`s attorneys, said Wilson and his lawyers were disappointed by the board`s decision but not surprised.

She said Wilson`s legal team still hopes to meet with Strickland to push for clemency before the governor makes his decision.

Meanwhile Wilson has appeals pending in both federal and state courts.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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