Judge finds juvenile guilty in beating case
FREMONT – A 17-year-old runaway helped severely beat and rob a Tiffin man in March at a Clyde apartment, a judge ruled Tuesday after the juvenile's trial.
Judge Brad Smith found Royce Jewell, who is being held in the Sandusky County Juvenile Detention Center, to be delinquent — which means guilty, in adult court terms — of one felony count each of aggravated robbery and assault.
Jewell participated in the attack on Cory Corbin, 24, of Tiffin, at the Clyde apartment where Jewell and his adult co-defendants were staying. Corbin was beaten, and one of his attackers stole $400 from his pocket, he testified.
Corbin, who had been drinking at a Clyde bar with Jewell and others before returning with them to the apartment, suffered a shattered eye socket, broken ribs and a broken nose.
Jewell could be sentenced to serve anywhere from a year in the Department of Youth Services, which is like a juvenile prison, up to being ordered to stay there until he is 21.
Although the trial took place in Sandusky County Juvenile Court, Jewell will be sentenced in Lucas County Juvenile Court because he is considered a Lucas County resident, Assistant Prosecutor Norm Solze said.
Although Solze initially sought to charge Jewell as an adult, he agreed to charge Jewell as a juvenile after Court Diagnostics of Toledo did an evaluation of Jewell and determined he would be a candidate for rehabilitation in the juvenile system.
"A lot of it was based on that he doesn't have too much of a past juvenile history," said Solze, who declined to discuss Jewell's juvenile record. "If you get a report back that says that, it's pretty hard to overcome."
Jewell's attorney, Matthew Exton of Fremont, declined to comment.
Meanwhile, the cases against his adult co-defendants — his ex-girlfriend, Amber Forman, 25, and his brother, Ryan Carson — are still pending in Sandusky County Common Pleas Court.
Forman testified against Jewell in exchange for receiving diversion, a program similar to probation, on the charges she faces. She also is expected to testify against Carson at his trial in August, Solze said.
"She doesn't have the deal yet," Solze said. "The deal is dependent on her testimony."
Forman faces one felony count each of complicity to assault and tampering with evidence and one misdemeanor count of failure to report a crime.
Carson faces one felony count each of aggravated robbery and assault. His trial is set for Aug. 20 in Sandusky County Common Pleas Court.
Jewell, wearing an orange jail shirt and pants, sat quietly during the testimony. When he took the stand, he spoke so softly that his testimony was sometimes inaudible. At one point, Smith, who was sitting next to Jewell while Jewell was on the witness stand, asked him to speak up.
He denied participating in the beating but did not try to stop it. When the money taken from Corbin was divided up, he received a share, he admitted.
"I was scared," Jewell said.
Corbin had been drinking at bars in Clyde on the night of March 13 when he ran into Carson, Jewell and some other people at the Arrow Cafe.
When he told Carson that he didn't have a place to stay, Carson offered to let him return to the apartment with the group, Corbin testified. Carson and Jewell were staying at Forman's apartment on Maple Street.
Forman and another woman who was spending the night there stayed home that night. When the group returned, they were drinking and talking.
Corbin said he was in the kitchen talking to another woman when Jewell, Carson and two other men surrounded him and started punching and kicking him. Carson hit him in the face with a pistol, Corbin testified.
The group then took his two cellphones, wallet and cash from his pockets, he testified.
They then made him change his pants, which were covered in blood, and drove him to an apartment complex near a Clyde park. Eventually, Corbin made it to Bellevue Hospital and was then taken to a Toledo hospital, where he had surgery.
Forman testified she was in the bathroom with another woman at the house, and then when she came out, she saw Jewell, Carson and another man beating Corbin. She said she tried to yell at them to stop, but the other woman pushed her into the bedroom.
Jewell, however, said Forman was in the bathroom with the door closed and then the bedroom with the door closed and could not have seen what was happening. Jewell also testified that the beating took place in the living room and that he was in the kitchen.
Jewell was the only witness who testified that the attack was in the living room. The others said it took place in the kitchen.
mksmith@gannett.com
419-334-1044
Twitter: @kristinasmithNM
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