Joseph McDonald, who killed a Cleveland police officer in 1969, has been denied parole and his next hearing before the Ohio Parole Board won’t take place until 2030, according to Jackie Hlivak, the widow of John R. Apanites Jr. Apanites, a Willowick resident, was shot April 7, 1969, while he was w orking as a plainclothes guard at a dress shop in Cleveland. He and John M. McNamara, another Cleveland patrolman, working part-time as plainclothes guards, were trying to prevent the theft of an $18 fur coat. Originally, McDonald was sentenced to death for killing Apanites and wounding McNamara. After his sentencing, McDonald told reporters, “I don’t think this is a just decision. I think the jury’s eyes were closed to the facts.” McDonald’s sentence was commuted to 15 years to life in prison with the possibility for parole after 15 years after the Ohio Supreme Court banned the death penalty in 1972. Since Apanites’ murder, his family has repeatedly traveled to Columbus to ask the parole board not to release McDonald. In addition petitions have since circulated, asking for McDonald to remain in prison. ...read more read less