LAFAYETTE, IN — Deonta Johnson was high and asleep when his girlfriend’s 5-year-old son got hold of a gun and shot Johnson’s 1-year-old son inside their Romney Meadows Apartment on March 28, 2023, according to evidence from Johnson’s trial.
That nap cost Johnson the life of his son and 24 years of his life.
Johnson, 29, received a 40-year sentence Wednesday, July 2, for neglect of a dependent resulting in death, and neglect of a dependent with serious bodily injury. Eight years of that sentence are suspended, and he’ll be on probation after he serves the 32-year portion of the sentence in prison.
With credit for good behavior, Johnson will have to serve 24 years. He’s already served about two years in pretrial detention. He’ll be 51 when he’s released from prison.
“While this tragic shooting was not necessarily planned or intended by the defendant, it was sadly predictable,” Tippecanoe Superior 2 Judge Steve Meyer said before sentencing.
Meyer played a disturbing short cartoon video that police found on the laptop the boys used. They’d watched it at least 11 times, possibly more, according to testimony in Johnson’s trial in May.
“The defendant’s children were exposed to this cartoon showing gun violence,” Meyer said. “This is the kind of environment you were raising your children in.
“It’s disturbing,” Meyer said, “and as a parent, I would think that you would do anything you could to keep your child from watching disturbing videos.
“But that seems to set the stage for what was happening in your home. That’s why I say it was sadly predictable.”
Meyer took note that the 5-year-old tested positive for cocaine, and the 1-year-old tested positive for marijuana at the time he died. Meyer also noted that the drugs and drug paraphernalia were scattered throughout the apartment.
After his son was killed, Johnson hid drugs inside the apartment and in his car. Rather than call 911, Johnson called his girlfriend, who called police and reported her son was not breathing.
Jurors convicted Johnson of dealing drugs, too. But those sentences will run concurrent to the neglect resulting in death sentence.
Meyer sentenced Johnson to 22 years for dealing narcotics, two years for dealing marijuana, 60 days for possession of paraphernalia and two years for obstruction of justice.
Johnson gave a brief statement before his sentencing.
“I’d just like to apologize to my family and friends and the community and ask that I be shown a tad bit of leniency for my sentence,” Johnson said. “I apologize to my children for the tragic situation that has occurred.”
Johnson’s girlfriend and the mother to both boys, Shatia Welch, was sentenced in February to six years in prison for neglect of a dependent. When she’s released from prison, she’ll serve two years on probation.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Father of 1-year-old killed by his 5-year-old brother will spend 24 years in prison
Reporting by Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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