Sean Greene (sitting, second from the right) testifies at his judicial release hearing Thursday.

XENIA — A judicial release hearing was held Thursday for a Greene County man convicted of beating his father to death in 2007.

In the hearing, Greene County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Buckwalter heard from several witnesses regarding Sean Greene’s potential early release from prison, including from Greene himself.

Sean Greene, 28, formerly of Beavercreek, pleaded guilty to first degree felony voluntary manslaughter in 2008 for killing his father, Dale Greene, and was sentenced to nine years in prison. If he served his full nine-year sentence, Sean would be released in June 2017. He is currently an inmate at the London Correctional Institute.

Reports from the 2007 incident indicate that after Dale made a comment to his son, Sean responded by pushing the other man to the ground. The conflict eventually escalated to the point where Sean reportedly then threw a lawn chair at his father, hitting him in the head, before later taking a shovel and hitting Dale in the head and jabbing him in the face.

The testimonies of both Sean and his mother, Karla Greene, during the hearing painted a picture of a difficult childhood for the boy because of his father.

“He always did everything he could to destroy Sean’s confidence in himself and everything that he did,” Karla said.

“He would just keep digging at me,” Sean would add later in the hearing.

In Thursday’s hearing Sean confirmed that he had killed his father, but said that he loved him.

“Every boy loves his father,” Sean said through tears. “… I just wanted him to love me. I was never smart enough, I was never fast enough, I was never quick enough. I was just never good enough in his eyes, and I tried my whole life to build up to be something that he would be proud of.”

Despite the repeated criticisms, Sean said he had no right to kill his father.

“There’s not enough time that I can do, that I can give, in three lifetimes to make up for this,” he said. “I took a life, and there’s nothing I can do to change that as much as I want to. I will live with that now, 10 years from now, 15 years from now, until I’m old, until I’m gone, I will live with this. I will carry this with me.”

The court heard from a London Correctional Institute employee who has worked with Sean during his time in prison. She testified about Sean’s good behavior and privileges at the facility and agreed that prison had nothing further to offer him.

Additionally, Sean testified regarding various programs and classes he completed while in prison.

“I’m sober. I’m focused. I have direction. I have drive,” he said. “I’ve grown.”

Assistant Greene County Prosecutor Adolfo Tornichio noted during the hearing that Sean initially lied to Beavercreek police officers about his knowledge of how his father died and requested that the court deny the defendant’s motion for judicial release.

Buckwalter is expected to make a ruling regarding the release within the next three business days.