Toledoan granted parole after 35 years in prison for murder

2/21/2013

COLUMBUS – A Toledo man convicted in the 1977 stabbing death of an elderly man at the downtown YMCA was granted parole today by the Ohio Parole Board.

Michael Ustaszewski, 53, is to be released “on or after April 22,” according to JoEllen Smith, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

He was sentenced to life in prison in 1977 after a jury in Lucas County Common Pleas Court found him guilty of aggravated murder in the stabbing death of Henry B. Cordle, 74.

Ustaszewski has maintained his innocence since the time of his arrest – something many felt had contributed to his long prison sentence. He was serving life in prison but was first eligible for parole in 1992 after he had served 15 years.