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Former coach convicted of arson victimized community, judge says

Photos: James Clay trials

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Jim Noelker/James Clay was sentence Monday September 21, 2009 in Judge Lendeman's courtroom in Miami County. Clay was sentenced to four years for aggravated arson consecutive to a five year term he received in Oct. 2008 for sexual battery.
Clay's wife, Charity Clay was in the courtroom along with Clay's lawyer Griff Nowicki.

Staff photo by Jim Noelker Jim Noelker/James Clay was sentence Monday September 21, 2009 in Judge Lendeman's courtroom in Miami County. Clay was sentenced to four years for aggravated arson consecutive to a five year term he received in Oct. 2008 for sexual battery. Clay's wife, Charity Clay was in the courtroom along with Clay's lawyer Griff Nowicki.

By Nancy Bowman, Staff Writer Updated 4:54 PM Monday, September 21, 2009

TROY — A judge told former coach James H. Clay he victimized the Miami County community when he set his home on fire in December 2007 and claimed it was a hate crime.

“It was a shock to me,” Judge Robert Lindeman said Monday, Sept. 21, of the headlines following the Dec. 21, 2007 fire that destroyed Clay’s home between Troy and Piqua. “People asked, ‘How could this happen?’ ... As it turned out to be, it wasn’t true.”

A former Troy Christian school basketball coach, Clay, 42, looked straight ahead as Lindeman sentenced him to four years in prison for the aggravated arson. He could have received up to eight years.

The time will be served consecutive to a five-year term ordered in October 2008 on Clay’s conviction by a jury for sexual battery for a relationship with a 15-year-old girl.

Clay was found guilty Sept. 3 of aggravated arson by a jury that deliberated around 2 1/2 hours.

An appeal of that verdict and Lindeman’s sentence likely will be filed yet this week, Clay’s court-appointed attorney Griff Nowicki of Huber Heights said.

Clay was accused of setting fire to his home days after he was indicted for sexual battery stemming from a relationship with a 15-year-old girl.

He told investigators that he and his children, ages 7 and 9, were watching a movie in a bedroom of their home on Troy-Sidney Road about 9 p.m. the night of the fire when he heard something and went to check.

He said he looked out of the bedroom door, saw two intruders, locked the children in a bathroom and went back into the hallway. There, he said, one of the intruders threw a fireball toward him and the hall erupted in flames.

Outside the house, investigators found his car spray painted with the words “leave,” “guilty,” and a racial epithet.

During the three-day trial, fire investigators testified that there was no doubt the fire was set by someone who poured gasoline in the hallway. Other trial witnesses, including Good Samaritans who stopped to help that night, said Clay told conflicting stories about what happened in the minutes leading to the fire.

Prosecutors claimed Clay set the fire to generate sympathy, to portray himself as a victim of racial discrimination and innocent of the sex charge.

Clay read a written statement, thanking his family and wife, Charity, for their support. Clay said he tried to live a good life the past 20 years after prior criminal convictions. His goal, he said, was to do “humanitarian work” using coaching and other skills.

He said the past two years, since the accusations of sexual battery surfaced, have been “a living nightmare” for him and his family. He said they were shunned and humiliated. “The same people who lifted me up, tore me down,” Clay said.

Nowicki said he was expecting the maximum sentence. “I was surprised the sentence was as light as it was,” he said.

As he did when the jury found Clay guilty, Nowicki said he thought Miami County “was the wrong venue for this case.” He argued Clay could not get a fair trial because of publicity and challenged the all-white jury pool.

County Prosecutor Gary Nasal said he agreed the sentence was light. “I have the utmost respect for Judge Lindeman, but respectfully believe this was a case that justified a longer prison term,” Nasal said. He praised those who investigated the fire and assistant prosecutor Jim Bennett’s handling of the prosecution.

“This crime raised the specter of racism where none existed and, I think, caused significant trauma to the community as a whole,” Nasal said. As the case was pending, Nasal said he repeatedly heard from people about “the negative image” of the county’s residents painted by Clay.

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