Junod gets 23 years in prison

CELINA - Clay A. Junod of Celina was sentenced on Friday to 23 years in prison on charges stemming from the April 9 armed robbery of Celina's Best Western hotel.

Retired judge Roger Wilson of Champaign County sentenced Junod, 35, to 11 years for first-degree felony aggravated robbery and 10 years for being a repeat violent offender. He also was sentenced to two years for a second-degree felony charge of kidnapping, two years for third-degree felony abduction and six months in jail for misdemeanor grand theft. These three terms are to be served concurrently with each other but consecutively to the 11- and 10-year prison sentences. He was given credit for 332 days he's already served in jail.

Celina Police Detective Ron Waltmire testified at Friday's sentencing in Mercer County Common Pleas Court that Junod had pleaded guilty to attempted murder in a plea agreement in 1999. That case involved a woman who had been found stabbed in a West Bank Road apartment. Junod served 10 years in prison for the crime and then returned to Celina. Junod was 16 at the time of that incident but was tried as an adult.

Junod said in his sentencing statement that he had done well after release but had eventually gotten lost in the world of drugs.

"When I started using crystal meth, I was never the same," he admitted, saying he had lived to get high.

"That was my state of mind when I ended up in Best Western filling out an application. On one hand, I was trying to talk myself out of doing something stupid. On the other hand I was thinking about the meth I could buy with the cash in the register," he said.

Testimony at his trial revealed that Junod had entered the hotel and asked to fill out a job application. Minutes later, he had pointed a firearm at the desk clerk and demanded money. He left the hotel with $134 from the register.

The next day, a Lima police officer had found Junod hiding in a Saturn sport utility vehicle in the parking lot of a downtown motel. When Junod was removed from the SUV, the officer saw a black handgun on the floor beneath where Junod had been lying. The weapon turned out to be a BB gun, but that fact was not discovered until the officer was able to inspect the weapon.

At the sentencing, defense attorney Richard Delzeith argued for his client to be sentenced to the minimum term of six years in prison. Mercer County Prosecutor Matthew Fox asked for the maximum sentence of 29 years.

Wilson also ordered that after prison, Junod should be placed on post-release control for five years. He also was ordered to repay $134 to Best Western.

Junod was found guilty on Feb. 22 by a Mercer County Common Pleas Court jury.