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 attack in her Upper West Side apartment, then forcing water down his throat, causing the vulnerable youth’s death, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Johnette Booker, 43, was found guilty of manslaughter, gang assault and assault, among other charges, in the horrific slaying of Jallen McConnie, her 15-year-old cousin. As proven at trial, McConnie died after Booker and two other relatives mercilessly beat and whipped him with belts during a prolonged attack in her apartment at the Wise Towers, a NYCHA development, on W. 94th St. near 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 said in a statement announcing 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 said.
Jallen — who had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, and was suspected of having autism — was visiting Booker for the summer from his home in Georgia, where he lived with his adopted sister, who was his legal guardian.
Jallen had been in New York City about a month before he died, having stayed with Booker since late May. In that time, “[f]or the 32 days he was in the defendant’s care, he was repeatedly physically and emotionally tortured,” including by being beaten, forced to sleep on the floor, and made to face the wall and do strenuous exercises for hours at a time, according to court records.
The Daily News reported in October 2021 that Booker’s brother, Mitchaux Booker, who also lived in the apartment, admitted to beating Jallen on the day he died because the teen had interrupted him while he was watching Netflix.
After assaulting Jallen for more than an hour in her living room, Booker and another family member brought Jallen to the bathroom and “forced water down his throat” until he collapsed in the bathtub, according to prosecutors. His cause of death was determined to be homicidal asphyxia, or suffocation.
Booker didn’t call 911 until hours after Jallen collapsed, and repeatedly lied to investigators about her involvement, according to the D.A. statement.
Mitchaux Booker, 36, was arrested on July 1, two days after Jallen died.
Johnette Booker and another relative, Joevon McConnie, were arrested almost a year later, in May 2022. Johnette Booker initially told investigators she wasn’t home at the time of the attack, according to the D.A., but investigators eventually uncovered her involvement.
Joevon McConnie was sentenced to 3.5 years in state prison in June 2024 after pleading guilty to assault.
Mitchaux Booker’s case is still open and pending. He is next due in court March 12.