Jaikorian Johnson, who last year was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter for the 2020 shooting death of 15-year-old Corban Henry, has been resentenced by a Daviess County grand jury to 10 years in prison. The new sentence — which includes fewer years in prison but a longer amount of time served before becoming parole-eligible — comes after the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that Johnson’s original penalty phase was unfair.
Johnson, now 21, was 17 at the time of the shooting on August 15, 2020. Following a five-day trial in April 2022, a jury found Johnson guilty of second-degree manslaughter, fourth-degree assault, and four counts of first-degree wanton endangerment for the incident.
In 2022, the jury recommended the maximum sentence for each charge and for the sentences to run concurrently. While those sentences added up to 31 years, Johnson’s combined total sentence was capped at 20 years in accordance with state law.
Johnson appealed his conviction to the Kentucky Supreme Court, making three arguments: the exclusion of testimony from two witnesses, the denial of directed verdicts for the wanton endangerment charges, and the prejudicial nature of the victim impact statement given during the sentencing phase.
The Supreme Court, in a 20-page unanimous ruling, upheld Johnson’s convictions but agreed there was prejudiced testimony during the new penalty phase.
The Supreme Court’s decision describes that Nancy Henry, Corban’s mother, delivered an impact statement that included Biblical references advocating for the death penalty and accusations that Johnson had harassed her and celebrated her son’s death.
The Court said the quotations of Biblical verses “skirted the line of impropriety” but did not rise to palpable error.
“The other statements of Ms. Henry, however, went well-beyond the bounds of propriety. She accused Johnson of at least two additional crimes—shooting over a candlelight vigil (another act of wanton endangerment) and acts of intimidating a participant in a legal proceeding. She accused Johnson of other acts and statements that amounted to gloating over the death of Henry to third parties and on social media,” the Court wrote.
The Court said that “specific acts of uncharged misconduct are not factors which a jury may consider in its determination of a defendant’s penalty and, therefore, are inadmissible in the penalty phase.”
The ruling says the Court concluded “the admittance of this testimony did ‘seriously affect the fairness of the proceedings.’ … We believe a substantial possibility exists that but for the admission of this testimony, the jury would not have recommended the maximum sentence possible and, therefore, conclude a palpable error occurred.”
Court records show the new jury trial for the penalty phase was conducted this week. According to court records, the jury sentenced Johnson to 10 years for second-degree manslaughter and 5 years each for the four counts of wanton endangerment — all running concurrently for a total of 10 years in prison.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Van Meter confirmed those sentencing details, but added there is also a change to parole eligibility. According to Van Meter, when Johnson was first sentenced he was only required to serve 20% of the 20-year sentence before becoming eligible for parole. Now, after a change in state law, Johnson must serve 85% of his 10-year sentence before becoming parole-eligible.
