Getsy, 33, a native of Hubbard near Youngstown, is scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville. He was the triggerman in a 1995 murder-for-hire plot in Hubbard.

David Stebbins, Getsy's Columbus attorney, said he is "remarkably disappointed" that Strickland followed the parole board's recommendation in a separate case in February but rejected the board's ruling in Getsy's case.

Stebbins said the parole board correctly decided 5-2 in favor of clemency for Getsy because, although he received the death penalty, John Santine, who hired Getsy in the plot, merely received a prison sentence.

"I'm very surprised that the governor would choose this case to ignore (the parole board's) considered opinion," Stebbins said.

But Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, who handled Getsy's case, said Strickland made a difficult but correct decision because Getsy committed the murder and also had killed before as a juvenile.

A dozen other prosecutors from both political parties, including Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien, joined Watkins in asking Strickland to deny clemency because of the precedent it would set in cases with co-defendants.

"This, without a doubt, is one of the truly courageous decisions I have seen in my career," Watkins said.

Strickland said in a statement that the disparity in the sentences alone wasn't enough justification to approve clemency, noting that Getsy and Santine had different roles in the murder.

"Mr. Getsy's sentence was based on his conduct and based upon our review, which included consideration of the differing Santine and Getsy sentences, I do not believe executive clemency is warranted," Strickland said.

Getsy was convicted of killing 68-year-old Ann Serafino of Hubbard and the attempted murder of her son, Charles Serafino, who was the target in a dispute over a landscaping business.

The killers did not expect Ann Serafino to be home the night of the shooting, and Charles Serafino, who also was shot, survived. The Serafino family opposed clemency for Getsy.

In an interview last month, Getsy did not deny his guilt but said God has changed his life since he has been in prison. He said at the time that he hoped his life would be spared so he could tell others not to make the same mistakes he did.

But Getsy said that whatever Strickland decided, "I pray that he's well with it, that he's comforted."

Strickland has granted clemency twice in death-penalty cases: in January 2008, when the parole board ruled against clemency for John G. Spirko Jr., and earlier this year, when the board voted for clemency in the case of Jeffrey Hill.

Strickland, an ordained Methodist minister who once worked as a prison psychologist at the Lucasville lockup, said earlier this week that he struggles with every death-penalty case.

"I have concerns about every execution," the governor said. "I think this is not something that I ever take lightly Anytime a life is taken, regardless of the circumstances, that's a serious matter."

mniquette@dispatch.com