Two more family members have been indicted in connection to the brutal death of their teenage cousin who was allegedly beaten with a belt at least 50 times and left to drown in a New York, New York bathtub last year.
15-year-old Jallen McConnie “was beaten from head to toe” with belts by cousins Mitchaux Booker, Johnette Booker and Joevon McConnie on June 28, 2021, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg told a judge Wednesday.
33-year-old Mitchaux Booker was arrested on July 1, 2021, two days after his young cousin’s death.
40-year-old Johnette and 39-year-old Joevon were only recently arrested, having previously told the police they weren’t home at the time of the beating and didn’t know what happened to the teen, Blumberg said.
In the month before Jallen’s death, his relatives made his life “a living hell” by putting the teen, who had learning disabilities, through a “cousin bootcamp,” Blumberg said during the Manhattan Supreme Court arraignment.
Jallen was “physically and psychologically tortured” — including being forced to face the wall or exercise for hours, and rarely being allowed to leave the West 94th Street apartment.
Johnette allegedly started the beatings because Jallen couldn’t “complete a straightforward mathematics problem,” the prosecutor said.
On the day Jallen died, the trio alternated beating him with a belt and sometimes hit him at the same time with multiple belts all while Jallen “whimpered and tried to get away from them,” Blumberg alleged.
Johnette also allegedly laughed while watching Mitchaux shoot water down Jallen’s throat with a shower head, Blumberg said.
The teen, who lived in Georgia, went to stay with Johnette, who “was entrusted to care for him,” the prosecutor said.
“Instead, a month later, police responded to defendant Johnette Booker’s apartment and found this young boy’s lifeless body,” Blumberg said.
Mitchaux and Johnette are charged with first-degree manslaughter. And all three are charged with assault, gang assault and endangering the welfare of a child. They face up to 25 years in prison if convicted on the top count.
The three cousins pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday.
Justice Maxwell Wiley held Mitchaux on $750,00 bail, Johnette on $500,000 bail and Joevon on $150,000 bond.
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