North Linden man sentenced to life in prison without parole for 2018 murder.
A North Linden will spend the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced Thursday for his conviction last month in the 2018 shooting death of a maintenance man during a robbery.
Donovan Clemens, 46, of South Linden, was shot and killed during a robbery at his home on the 1900 block of South Hamilton Road on Feb. 8, 2018. Clemens had worked as a maintenance man and was also a pastor.
Traquan Workman, 24, was found later that day in Clemens' stolen pickup truck and had ammunition in his possession that matched the bullet that killed Clemens.
Workman had been convicted last month by a Franklin County Common Pleas Court jury on charges of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and tampering with evidence.
A woman who was with Workman in the truck — Monique Green, 35, of North Linden —was sentenced to 14 years in prison in March after entering a guilty plea to one count of aggravated robbery with a firearm specification before Judge Dan Hawkins.
Prior to Workman's sentencing Thursday, defense attorney Adam Neeman had filed a memorandum asking Hawkins to give his client a minimum sentence, citing Workman's history of inconsistently treated mental health issues and exposure to abuse beginning at five years old.
Neeman noted that Workman had no prior felony convictions, either as a juvenile or an adult, and his only prior criminal contact with any court had been related to what Neeman said was Workman defending his mother from his stepfather.
Workman had spent more than 1,300 days in jail since his arrest, all of which was credited toward his sentence.
Prosecutors argued Workman deserved a harsher penalty because of the nature of the crime, especially for a victim like Clemens, who was willing to help anyone and wanted to be a positive force in the community.
Clemens was a father and grandfather and as a pastor, might even have been able to help Workman turn his life to a different path, Hawkins noted.
Prosecutors also said Workman showed a total lack of remorse, posting about the crime on social media and talking about it in brash and callous terms in text messages after the killing.
Clemens' wife and sister-in-law both spoke during Thursday's hearing and a statement was also read on behalf of Clemens' son.
Hawkins ultimately imposed on Workman a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole as well as an additional 20 years.
