December 30, 2021
The Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office, through Assistant Chief Ralph M. Rivera, filed
an objection with the Ohio Parole Board regarding the upcoming parole hearing of Defendant
Harold Agee is scheduled for January 2022. Agee was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment
with parole eligibility after twenty-three years for the aggravated murder of James Crafter, Jr.
On May 22, 1994, Agee and an unknown individual abducted Crafter at gunpoint. When
they drove off, another acquaintance of Agee got out of his car and held everybody on the street
at gunpoint to make sure that no one could leave to rescue or assist the victim. Agee had Crafter
drive them to Crafter’s house at 2216 Ash Street in Youngstown. As they began to walk down the
basement stairway, Agee fired his 9mm firearm into the victim’s back and head. Youngstown
police later found Crafter around the corner from the basement steps with 29 bullet holes in his
body. Agee shot Crafter at least twelve times, all from the back, execution-style.
For all those reasons, the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office objected to the release of
Defendant Harold Agee because the callous and heartless calculation that went into James Crafter,
Jr.’s execution-style murder demonstrates that there does not exist “reasonable ground to believe
that * * * paroling [Harold Agee] would further the interests of justice and be consistent with the
welfare and security of society.” R.C. 2967.03.