Junod found guilty of robbing Celina hotel

CELINA - A jury of six men and six women deliberated 90 minutes on Thursday before finding Clay A. Junod, 35, guilty of five charges stemming from the Aug. 9 armed robbery of Celina's Best Western hotel.

Junod was convicted of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony; felonious assault, a second-degree felony; kidnapping, a second-degree felony; abduction, a third-degree felony; and a misdemeanor count of petty theft. He faces a maximum sentence of more than 40 years in prison.

Retired judge Roger Wilson of Champaign County set a tentative sentencing date of March 9 in Mercer County Common Pleas Court. Junod also awaits a ruling on a specification to declare him a repeat violent offender. That ruling will be made by Wilson on the sentencing date. Junod had been convicted of a violent felony in 1999, according to court records.

The trial, which began on Wednesday, initially was set for three days and was scheduled to conclude today. However, it concluded a day early after defense attorneys Richard Delzeith and Judy Koesters presented no new evidence.

On Thursday, Mercer County Prosecutor Matthew Fox concluded his case with testimony from Celina Police Sgt. Colin Fuelling, who was the first officer to arrive at the scene after the robbery had occurred, and Detective Ron Waltmire, who also responded to the emergency call from the hotel. Waltmire took the stand wearing a surgical mask because he was sick with influenza.

Fuelling told the court he had responded to the armed robbery call shortly after 4:15 p.m., searched the building and took a statement from the front desk clerk who had been the victim in the robbery and made the 911 call.

After Fox presented his evidence, Delzeith and Koesters argued that the prosecution had failed to successfully prove all elements of the case against their client. During closing arguments, Koesters told jurors that the prosecution had not proven that the desk clerk suffered "serious physical harm" in the event. Fox, in his closing argument, said the element had been proven when Junod had threatened the woman, who was four and a half months pregnant at the time, with what she believed to be a gun.

According to testimony given by the clerk and by police officers on Wednesday and Thursday, the clerk had been working at the desk when a man later identified as Junod walked into the office and requested a job application. He was given an application, used a restroom and then sat down in the lobby, supposedly to fill out the form.

After a few minutes, he again approached the front desk. When the clerk had reached out to take the application, Junod reportedly had grabbed the woman's wrist with his left hand and reached into his jacket pocket with his right hand to pull out what appeared to be a handgun and pointed it toward her. He reportedly had demanded money, and the clerk gave him the bills from the cash drawer.

He then reportedly had asked for keys to the cars in the parking lot, but the clerk replied she didn't have keys to the cars. He left the hotel through the doors he had entered a few minutes earlier without firing his weapon. The clerk reported that she had locked herself into the employee restroom and called Celina police. Time stamps on security footage showed the whole incident lasted about 30 minutes.

Waltmire and Fuelling in their testimony said they had separately recognized Junod while viewing the hotel security footage through their past dealings with him, including an incident about 60 days earlier.

He was arrested the day after the robbery by Lima police, who found him hiding in the hatch region of a Saturn SUV in a parking lot. Junod was found with a black BB gun that looked like a handgun.

On Thursday before the verdict was read, Wilson asked Junod if he was happy with the performance of his attorneys. Junod said he was. In June, he had asked for a new attorney when he expressed dissatisfaction with Delzeith. Judge Jeffrey Ingraham denied the request but added Koesters to the defense team instead. Earlier this month, Junod had complained again about his court-appointed attorneys, telling Wilson he didn't think the pair would do their best for him at trial.

Correction:

The robbery took place April 9. The date was incorrect in the article. The error was made in reporting.