A 15-year-old boy has been sentenced to 100 years in prison after taking part in a gang-related shooting that killed an innocent woman. Jo’Majze Larry, from Anderson, Indiana, was found guilty over the deadly attack, which prosecutors said was meant for someone else.
The victim, 26-year-old Dayla Swain, was shot and killed outside Sonny Ray’s nightclub in Anderson on February 2, 2025. Prosecutors said she was not the intended target. Instead, she was caught in what they described as a failed gang hit aimed at a witness in another murder case.
According to prosecutors, the plot was linked to the 2023 killing of a 15-year-old boy during an alleged attempted armed robbery. They said Larry and another gang member, Rawshawn Samuels, worked with others to plan the attack on a witness connected to that earlier case.
However, the plan went terribly wrong. Instead of hitting the witness, the gunfire struck Dayla Swain, who later died from her injuries. Prosecutors said she had no connection to the planned target.
In June this year, Larry was found guilty of several serious crimes, including murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, taking part in criminal organisation activity, and illegally possessing a dangerous firearm.
During sentencing, Judge David Happe ordered Larry to serve 50 years for murder. He then added another 50 years under Indiana’s criminal organisation enhancement law, bringing the total sentence to 100 years in prison. Larry will serve his sentence in the Indiana Department of Correction.
Larry’s co-defendant, 19-year-old Rawshawn Samuels, received an even longer sentence. He was sentenced to 125 years in prison, made up of 62½ years for Swain’s murder and another 62½ years because of the criminal organisation enhancement.
After the sentencing, prosecutors said criminal gangs pose a much greater danger to the public because they work together to commit crimes, recruit new members, and often carry out violent offences to make money or strengthen their organisation.
Although Larry has been sentenced to 100 years, Indiana law gives people who committed crimes while under the age of 18 the chance to ask a judge to review their sentence after serving at least 20 years in prison.
However, this does not mean his sentence will automatically be reduced or that he will be released. The law only allows him to ask the court to reconsider his sentence.
If such a request is made in the future, prosecutors can argue against it, victims and their families have the right to be informed and speak at the hearing, and the judge will decide whether to reduce the sentence after considering all of the facts.
