The older cousin of a disabled 15-year-old boy has been convicted of brutally beating him with a belt in a savage hour-long assault in her Higher West Aspect residence, then forcing water down his throat, inflicting the susceptible youth’s loss of life, the Manhattan District Lawyer’s Workplace introduced Friday.
Johnette Booker, 43, was discovered responsible of manslaughter, gang assault and assault, amongst different fees, within the horrific slaying of Jallen McConnie, her 15-year-old cousin. As confirmed at trial, McConnie died after Booker and two different kin mercilessly beat and whipped him with belts throughout a chronic assault in her residence on the Sensible Towers, a NYCHA improvement, on W. 94th St. close to Columbus Ave. on June 28, 2021.
Booker “physically and emotionally tortured her special-needs cousin, in what can only be described as absolutely shocking and horrific behavior,” Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg mentioned in a press release saying the conviction. “Instead of providing him with love and care when she assumed the role of caregiver by taking him into her home for the summer, she preyed on him, and her actions and omissions caused his tragic death. No child should ever be treated this way, and I thank our prosecutors for their hard work to deliver accountability in this case,” Bragg mentioned.
Jallen — who had been recognized with post-traumatic stress dysfunction, consideration deficit hyperactivity dysfunction and oppositional defiant dysfunction, and was suspected of getting autism — was visiting Booker for the summer time from his residence in Georgia, the place he lived together with his adopted sister, who was his authorized guardian.
Jallen had been in New York Metropolis a few month earlier than he died, having stayed with Booker since late Could. In that point, “[f]or the 32 days he was in the defendant’s care, he was repeatedly physically and emotionally tortured,” together with by being overwhelmed, pressured to sleep on the ground, and made to face the wall and do strenuous workout routines for hours at a time, in line with court docket information.
After assaulting Jallen for greater than an hour in her front room, Booker and one other member of the family introduced Jallen to the lavatory and “forced water down his throat” till he collapsed within the bathtub, in line with prosecutors. His reason behind loss of life was decided to be homicidal asphyxia, or suffocation.
Booker didn’t name 911 till hours after Jallen collapsed, and repeatedly lied to investigators about her involvement, in line with the D.A. assertion.
Mitchaux Booker, 36, was arrested on July 1, two days after Jallen died.
Johnette Booker and one other relative, Joevon McConnie, have been arrested virtually a 12 months later, in Could 2022. Johnette Booker initially advised investigators she wasn’t residence on the time of the assault, in line with the D.A., however investigators finally uncovered her involvement.
Joevon McConnie was sentenced to three.5 years in state jail in June 2024 after pleading responsible to assault.
Mitchaux Booker’s case remains to be open and pending. He’s subsequent due in court docket March 12.
