Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 2, 1993 TAG: 9304020272
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
14 YEARS FOR ZELENAK
Katina Lynn Zelenak was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in prison for her part in the June 2 attempted robbery of a Domino's Pizza manager who led police to her and two other murder suspects.The term imposed by Circuit Judge Kenneth Devore was the same sentence set by a Montgomery County jury in February after a two-day trial.
Thursday's sentence is in addition to the life-plus-two-years term Zelenak received when she pleaded no contest to first-degree murder, robbery and use of a firearm in the death of Lorna Raines Crockett, a Christiansburg shoe store manager.
Crockett, 32, of Pulaski County was married and the mother of three boys.
In mid-February, Zelenak had pleaded not guilty to the attempted robbery of pizza shop manager Stuart Arbuckle last June 1, of conspiring to rob him and of using a firearm to attempt robbery.
Zelenak tearfully testified in February that she was forced to participate when her boyfriend and another man robbed, abducted and killed Crockett after she made a night deposit at a Hills Plaza bank off Roanoke Street. She said they later attempted to rob Stuart Arbuckle as he made a store deposit at a Blacksburg bank.
Zelenak, of Christiansburg, contended that she drove the car because her then-boyfriend threatened her life and her family if she didn't. Zelenak, who has said her two male co-defendants shot Crockett, had been charged as a "principal in the second degree," meaning that even if she did not pull a trigger or rob someone, she aided and abetted in the commission of the crimes.
She collapsed in tears at the defense table in February when the jury returned the guilty verdicts.
Thursday, Zelenak's demeanor appeared more in control. She entered the courtroom wearing a sea-foam green dress, looked in the direction of her parents and winked.
Formal sentencing was delayed until Thursday because Zelenak's attorneys, Joe Painter and Randy Jones of Blacksburg, had asked for a presentence report.
Mike York, a probation officer, testified briefly Thursday that Zelenak did not have a prior criminal record and that one of her counselors had said she could benefit from continued treatment for trauma.
Arbuckle, 25, foiled the robbery attempt, then followed his assailants and called police on his car's cellular phone. When police stopped the car and Zelenak agreed to a search, they found two guns - including a .32 caliber handgun authorities later determined was used to kill Crockett.
Jones asked Devore to consider having the 14-year sentence run concurrently with Zelenak's life sentence. Zelenak is 20, he said, and had never been in trouble until she "basically fell in with a couple of maniacs."
But Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith told the judge the jury had spoken as the voice of the community and that its sentence should be imposed.
In Wythe County last year, Zelenak was ordered held for the grand jury after a preliminary hearing charging that she took part in a break-in at a McDonald's restaurant. Commonwealth's Attorney Thomas Baird declined to prosecute the charge before it reached the grand jury, so she never was indicted.
William Ray Smith Jr., 19, of Pulaski County, avoided a possible death sentence last month when he pleaded no contest to first-degree murder, abduction, robbery and use of a firearm in Crockett's death. He also pleaded no contest to conspiracy to rob Arbuckle, attempted robbery and use of a firearm.
Paul W. Morehead, 21, also of Pulaski County, is scheduled to be tried April 13 and faces a capital murder charge.
Jones said after the sentencing that he and Painter planned to appeal Zelenak's latest case. He said Zelenak was planning to testify against Morehead.
Smith's attorneys, Jimmy Turk and Joey Showalter of Radford, have also said that if Morehead does not plead guilty, Smith will testify against him.