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 Facet house, then forcing water down his throat, inflicting the susceptible youth’s demise, the Manhattan District Legal professional’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 kinfolk mercilessly beat and whipped him with belts throughout a chronic assault in her house on the Clever Towers, a NYCHA growth, 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 an announcement asserting 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 identified 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 season from his residence in Georgia, the place he lived along with his adopted sister, who was his authorized guardian.
Jallen had been in New York Metropolis a couple of month earlier than he died, having stayed with Booker since late Might. 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, compelled to sleep on the ground, and made to face the wall and do strenuous workouts for hours at a time, in response to courtroom 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 toilet and “forced water down his throat” till he collapsed within the bathtub, in response to prosecutors. His explanation for demise 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 response to 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, had been arrested nearly a 12 months later, in Might 2022. Johnette Booker initially advised investigators she wasn’t residence on the time of the assault, in response to 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 continues to be open and pending. He’s subsequent due in courtroom March 12.
