Prosecutors Fight Against Parole For Hammer Murder Suspect

Rich Jaffe, WKRC Cincinnati, May 18, 2012

A judge sent Eugene Washington to prison for life in 1991. But the Ohio Parole Board recently granted his parole request and set his release date for May 29th.

Victim advocates are outraged. In November 1990, Kimberly Johnson and Ronnie Robinson were living in this little house on Stanton Avenue. For whatever reason, Johnson kept a hammer on top of the refrigerator. She never had any idea her ex-boyfriend Gene Washington, would turn that hammer into a murder weapon.

The little house where the murder took place hasn't changed a lot in the last 21 years. In November of 1980, it was dark red when police and crime scene techs were pouring over it searching for evidence. Kimberly Johnson lived here at the time along with 18 year old Ronnie Robinson. "I heard a thump and I thought it was Ronnie hitting the dog so I turned over and it was Gene hitting him with a hammer in his head."

"Gene" is Eugene Washington, Johnson's ex-boyfriend. Bret Vinocur from Block Parole, Inc. says, "There's no one that can dispute the fact that he's the worst of the worst and also I'm very concerned for this woman that survived. I mean he openly threatened to kill her multiple times told her if she didn't comply and was complicit to the murder he would kill her and she likely has no clue he's about to be paroled."

Just hours before the murder, Washington was in court on escape charges. Johnson filed a domestic violence charge against him. Friends of hers' attacked Washington, putting him in the hospital. He was under arrest, but he simply walked out of the hospital.

He was later caught and, while in jail, Washington called Kimberly Johnson and Robinson, telling them he was going to kill them. Judge Gilbert Bettman released him on an OR bond (on his own recognizance). Hours later, Robinson was dead.

After the murder, Judge Bettman told Local 12, "We are in a position exactly like an umpire,we have to call a ball and a strike and sometimes some people don't think you called a ball or strike correctly that's all. Obviously anybody is sad if somebody gets hurt by somebody who comes out of jail, but everybody comes out of jail unless they die there."

Vinocur contends, "In some cases they can be rehabilitated. This guy is a career criminal. He cannot be rehabilitated and he is going to present a serious risk to not only that woman he threatened multiple times but to every citizen in Ohio if he's released."

In December, Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters wrote a letter to the parole authority in protest of Washington's release. A spokesperson for the office says they may still be able to do something to block it and hope to know more about that on Monday.

Vinocur says he hopes the families of Kimberly Johnson and Ronnie Robinson come forward and speak out against the parole. He runs a website called Block Parole Incorporated.