Two defendants in Fairborn hotel clerk killing plead guilty

DiSean Graham

DiSean Graham

Two people involved in the March 2018 death of a Fairborn hotel employee have pleaded guilty.

DiSean Graham, of Dayton, who turns 22 on Saturday, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Greene County Common Pleas Court to aggravated murder and aggravated robbery in exchange for other counts to be dismissed, according to court records.

Records also show co-defendant Morgan W. Klink pleaded guilty on Jan. 31 to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery, both with gun specifications.

As part of her deal, a murder charge was dismissed. Sentencing dates are not available in online docket records for Graham and Klink.

RELATED: 2 more face murder charges in hotel clerk’s death

Hampton Inn desk clerk Andrew Day, 29, was shot and killed March 7, 2018, during a robbery at the hotel off Colonel Glenn Highway.

Graham’s plea calls for prosecutors to recommend a 20-years-to-life sentence for murder to run concurrent with an 11-year sentence for the robbery.

The plea agreement states if Graham fails to abide by the terms, prosecutors will recommend life without parole for the murder.

During a Feb. 14 hearing, alleged shooter Michael McLendon was found to be progressing during competency restoration treatment, records show.

RELATED: Judge OKs forced medication on hotel murder defendant found incompetent

Judge Stephen Wolaver ruled last year that McLendon could be forced to take medication in order to be declared competent to stand trial.

The docket entry quoted a January report from a medical professional that stated McLendon’s “psychiatric symptoms were expected to continue to improve as well as his knowledge of regarding legal proceedings.”

McLendon has to be restored within a year of the finding in order to be tried for his alleged crimes.

RELATED: Fairborn hotel clerk shot to death: ‘Rare for this area to have that kind of violence’

“We’re trying to stop the bleeding,” a caller told a 911 dispatcher around 7:20 p.m. on March 7, 2018. “We don’t have a room, we just walked in the door … somebody just shot the guy behind the counter.”

“The people who shot you — they’re not still here, right?” the caller asked Day as others attempted to stop the bleeding from the clerk’s lower abdomen. “He’s not doing good,” the man said back to the dispatcher. “You’ve got to hurry up.”

Day was a 2007 graduate of Tecumseh High School and a part-time photographer who specialized in “doing work with families to capture special moments,” according to his social media.

Day’s brother has said he hopes the killer gets the death penalty.

MORE: Read other stories from Mark Gokavi

“He didn’t do anything wrong at all,” Daniel Day said last year. “He didn’t even put up a fight, apparently, from what we’ve been told … He was doing exactly what he was told to do because he thought he’d be able to make it home that night — but he didn’t.”

Family members said “Andy” loved his job, his wife and their 6-year-old daughter.

“I lost my brother and my best friend … she lost her husband and her world,” Daniel Day said last year about his sister-in-law Brittany Day. “Brittany changed his life, and Andy was such a great dad, a great brother.”

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