Judge: Teen can be tried as an adult in slaying

A teen charged as a juvenile in the shooting death of his Clark County uncle can be put on trial as an adult, after a ruling by a judge Thursday.

Raymond Zimmerman, 17, was in a Clark County Juvenile Court courtroom for probable cause hearings Thursday morning and afternoon.

Witnesses in the hearing told the juvenile court judge that Zimmerman had confessed to them he killed his uncle.

Zimmerman was charged as a juvenile with a delinquent act of murder in connection with the Jan. 14 shooting death of his uncle, William Henson.

Robert Winbush, 18, was also arrested and was indicted on multiple charges in the case by a Clark County grand jury Jan. 26.

Henson was found dead in his Haddix Road home in Mad River Twp. with multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head, according to investigators.

Two witnesses who lived with Zimmerman in Fairborn when the crime happened said when the news of the homicide case broke in the media, the teen told them multiple stories of how he had been involved in Henson’s death.

Witnesses said Zimmerman first told them he had attempted to rob Henson and in a struggle, Henson shot himself. Then the teen changed the story and said Winbush had pulled the trigger. And thirdly, Zimmerman told his roommates that he himself had killed his uncle.

“And he laughed about it,” one of the witnesses said on the stand Thursday.

Multiple family members of Zimmerman were in the court room Thursday and listened to the testimony of witnesses. Zimmerman’s mother sat next to her son at the defendant’s table.

The family declined to comment after the hearing.

Now that Zimmerman’s case was bound over to adult court, a decision to whether formally charge him lies in the hands of a grand jury, said Clark County Assistant Prosecutor Megan Farley.

The Clark County Prosecutor’s Office is scheduled to present Zimmerman’s case to a grand jury Monday, she added.

Zimmerman also faces charges of delinquent acts of kidnapping, aggravated burglary and felony theft after he fled from law enforcement when he was being transported to the hospital for an ankle injury Jan. 23.

A charge of escape was dropped by the prosecutor’s office before the probable cause hearing Thursday, said Farley.

In the escape, Zimmerman allegedly broke into a house on West Columbia Street in Springfield, near the hospital. He then threatened the female resident with a knife and forced her to drive him to Fairborn, police said.

After he was captured in Fairborn by police Jan. 24, Zimmerman confessed that he broke into the woman’s home and had her drive him out of the county, said Clark County Sheriff’s Office Detective James Hollopeter.

As of print deadline Thursday evening, Clark County Juvenile Court Judge Joseph Monnin had not handed down a written decision on whether Zimmerman could be tried on the charges related to his escape.

Winbush was also in court Thursday to be arraigned in Clark County Common Pleas Court on his charges in the case, but for the second week in a row he did not have an attorney hired to represent him. Winbush faces charges of aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and theft of firearm.

His $1,000,000 bond set in municipal court was continued and he is scheduled to be arraigned next week.

Zimmerman has also been booked as an inmate in the Clark County Jail, according to jail records.

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