The Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office filed an objection with the Ohio Parole Board regarding the upcoming parole hearing of Defendant Nicholas Ginnis, which is scheduled for January 2022. Ginnis is serving a sentence of 20 years to life in prison for the Aggravated Murder of Joseph Depp and the Theft of Joseph Depp’s vehicle.
On October 6, 1994, Ginnis and Co-Defendant Jennifer Bainbridge set up Mr. Depp. They lured him to Bainbridge’s home and went outside and shot him in the head. Bainbridge told police that the Ginnis gave her the gun stolen from Mr. Depp’s truck and told her to ask Mr. Depp to come over. Ginnis repeatedly told Bainbridge and her brother that they had to kill Mr. Depp when he got there. When Mr. Depp pulled into the driveway, Bainbridge walked outside with the .380 under her shirt and shot Mr. Depp in the head. Defendant told Bainbridge to shoot again, but she refused. The Defendant put on gloves, drug Mr. Depp out of the truck and into the truck bed, and then shot him. Defendant took the truck containing Mr. Depp’s body to dump it. When Defendant returned, he and Bainbridge picked up shell casings and bloody towels, put them in a trash bag with Defendant’s clothing and Mr. Depp’s pager, and placed them in a dumpster behind Denny’s. Depp’s body was found soon after they dumped it in the back of his own pickup truck, which was located on Harvard Boulevard in Beaver Township.
For all these reasons, the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office objected to the release of Nicholas Ginnis because of the cold-blooded and calculated murder of Joseph Depp. Ginnis planned Depp’s murder and attempted to hide his body while taking all of his belongings; this demonstrates that there does not exist “reasonable ground to believe that * * * paroling [Nicholas Ginnis] would further the interests of justice and be consistent with the welfare and security of society.” R.C. 2967.03.