- Target:
- State of Ohio
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- www.policememorialsociety.org
On April 7, 1969, Joseph McDonald was arrested for shoplifting at Petrie's Dress Shop, 322 Euclid Ave., by John McNamara, an off-duty Cleveland Police Officer. McDonald attacked Officer McNamara, and was able to disarm him (shooting him in the process).
McDonald then turned the weapon on a second off-duty Cleveland Police Officer, John Apanites Jr., killing him with four bullets.
McDonald (who had 37 prior arrests) was eventually apprehended, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. However, because the U.S. Supreme Court threw out all death penalties wholesale in 1972, McDonald's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
Due to the State of Ohio's definition of life imprisonment, McDonald has an opportunity for parole in 2009.
We the undersigned, as outraged citizens and in support of Officer Apanites' widow and children, oppose Joseph McDonald's release from prison, now and forever.
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The Keep cop-killer in prison petition to State of Ohio was written by The Apanites Family and is in the category Law & Order at GoPetition.