15-year-old convicted murderer sentenced to 100 years in prison

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A 15-year-old Indiana boy has been sentenced to 100 years in prison after being convicted in a 2025 gang-related shooting that left one woman dead, another wounded and a third injured when she was hit by a car fleeing the gunfire, prosecutors said.

The boy, Jo'Majze Larry of Anderson, Indiana, was sentenced on Wednesday during a hearing before Judge David Happe of the Circuit Court of Madison County.

Larry was one of four members of the Mickey Cobra Nation (MCN) gang charged with murder in the killing of 26-year-old Dayla Swain, who prosecutors said was shot in February 2025 outside a nightclub in Anderson, a suburb of Indianapolis.

Swain was shot during a botched hit on a witness to another homicide, prosecutors said.

Larry and his co-defendant, 19-year-old Rashawn Samuels, who went on trial together, were convicted by a jury on June 30, according to the Madison County District Attorney's Office.

During a court hearing on Thursday, Happe sentenced Samuels to 125 years in prison, prosecutors said.

Following their convictions, Samuels and Larry admitted to an enhancement charge of being part of a criminal organization, according to prosecutors.

Happe handed down a 50-year prison sentence on Larry for the murder of Swain, and gave the teenager another 50 years for the gang enhancement charge.

Samuels was sentenced to 62 and a half years in prison for Swain's murder, and Happe imposed another 62 and a half years for the criminal organization enhancement charge.

"Indiana law recognizes that criminal organizations can pose a greater threat to public safety because they coordinate criminal activity, recruit others to participate in crime, and often commit offenses for financial gain or to further the goals of the organization," prosecutors said in a statement.

Another defendant, Kyree Craver, 19, was convicted of Swain's murder in a separate trial earlier this year and sentenced by Judge Happe on July 9 to 90 years in prison, according to prosecutors.

A fourth defendant is expected to go to trial later this year.

Larry and Samuels were also convicted of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder, prosecutors said.

Because Larry was under the age of 18 at the time of the murder, Indiana law provides an opportunity for him to seek a judicial review of his sentence without the consent of the prosecuting attorney after he has served at least 20 years of his sentence, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said Swain's death was tied to a botched hit on a witness to the murder of 15-year-old Jullian Craig that occurred in 2023 during an attempted armed robbery.

Donavan Harris, 20, also of Anderson, was convicted in June of Craig's murder, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors alleged that Craig's homicide prompted Larry and Samuel to conspire with their fellow gang members to kill a witness to Craig's death, prosecutors said.

The botched hit occurred on Feb. 2, 2025, outside of the Sonny Ray's nightclub in Anderson, and left Swain, who was not the intended target, dead, prosecutors said.

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