15-year-old sentenced to 100 years for deadly gang shooting

A 15-year-old Indiana boy, Jo’Majze Larry, has been sentenced to 100 years in prison for his role in a gang-related shooting outside an Anderson nightclub that killed 26-year-old Dayla Swain, who was not even the intended target

A botched hit meant for a witness ended up killing an innocent bystander — and now a teenager is facing a century behind bars.

Jo’Majze Larry, just 15 at the time of the crime, was sentenced Wednesday to 100 years in prison before Judge David Happe of the Circuit Court of Madison County. The case traces back to February 2, 2025, when a shooting outside Sonny Ray’s nightclub in Anderson, Indiana, left 26-year-old Dayla Swain dead. Prosecutors say Swain wasn’t the target at all — she was killed during a failed plot to murder a witness tied to another homicide.

Larry, identified as a member of the Mickey Cobra Nation (MCN) gang, was one of four people charged over Swain’s death. He and co-defendant Rashawn Samuels, 19, were convicted by a jury on June 30. Samuels received his own sentence Thursday: 125 years.

According to Tribune, both received their totals through a combination of murder convictions and gang enhancement charges — Larry got 50 years for the murder and 50 more for the gang enhancement; Samuels got 62½ years apiece for the same two counts. Both men also admitted to being part of a criminal organization after their convictions.

“Indiana law recognizes that criminal organizations can pose a greater threat to public safety because they coordinate criminal activity, recruit others to participate in crime, and often commit offenses for financial gain or to further the goals of the organization,” prosecutors said in a statement.

A third defendant, Kyree Craver, 19, was convicted separately and sentenced to 90 years on July 9. A fourth suspect is expected to stand trial later this year.

Despite his sentence, Larry — having been a minor at the time of the offense — can seek judicial review after serving at least 20 years under Indiana law, without needing prosecutors’ consent. Investigators have also linked Swain’s killing to the 2023 murder of 15-year-old Jullian Craig, for which Donavan Harris, 20, was convicted in June.