A 15-year-old member of the Mickey Cobra Nation gang will spend the next 100 years in an Indiana prison for a conspiracy to murder a witness that instead killed a 26-year-old woman who had nothing to do with it.
Judge David Happe of the Madison County Circuit Court sentenced Jo'Majze Larry on Wednesday for the February 2025 shooting death of Dayla Swain outside a nightclub in Anderson, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis. Larry drew 50 years for murder and another 50 years under Indiana's criminal organization sentencing enhancement, a statute that doubles time for crimes carried out on behalf of a gang. His co-defendant, 19-year-old Rashawn Samuels, received 125 years from the same judge a day later: 62.5 years for murder plus an equal term for the gang enhancement.
Both men admitted to the gang enhancement charge after a jury convicted them on June 30 of murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder. A third co-defendant, 19-year-old Kyree Craver, was convicted in a separate trial earlier this year and sentenced July 9 to 90 years. A fourth, unnamed member of the Mickey Cobra Nation still awaits trial later in 2026.
Dayla Swain was 26 years old when she was shot and killed outside Sonny Ray's nightclub in Anderson on February 2, 2025. She was not the person the gunmen came for. Prosecutors told the court that Larry, Samuels, Craver, and the fourth defendant conspired to kill a witness to a separate 2023 homicide, the murder of 15-year-old Jullian Craig during an attempted armed robbery in Anderson.
The shooters missed their intended target. Swain died. A second woman was wounded by gunfire. A third person was injured when a car fleeing the scene struck her.
The chain of violence stretches back at least three years. Craig's killing in 2023 generated a witness whom gang members allegedly wanted silenced. That witness has not been publicly named. The conspiracy to eliminate the witness produced the botched nightclub shooting that killed Swain. And the man prosecutors say murdered Craig in the first place, 20-year-old Donavan Harris, also of Anderson, was convicted of that killing this past June.
The sentences handed down by Judge Happe reflect the weight Indiana places on organized criminal activity. The criminal organization enhancement effectively doubled the prison time for each defendant. Larry's 50-year murder sentence became 100 years. Samuels's 62.5-year murder sentence became 125 years. Even Craver's 90-year term included the enhancement.
The Madison County District Attorney's Office explained the rationale in a statement:
"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."
Larry and Samuels both admitted to the enhancement charge after the jury returned guilty verdicts on the underlying murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy counts. That admission spared prosecutors the burden of proving gang affiliation at a separate proceeding, and locked in the sentence multiplier.
Because Larry was under 18 at the time of the murder, Indiana law gives him one narrow avenue. He may petition a court to review his sentence after serving at least 20 years, and he does not need the prosecutor's consent to file. But a petition is not a release. It is a request for a judge to look again. Twenty years from now, Larry will still be in his mid-thirties, and the facts of his case, a gang conspiracy to silence a witness that left an innocent woman dead, will be the same.
Samuels, who was 19 at the time of the crime, has no such provision. His 125-year sentence carries no built-in review mechanism mentioned in the court proceedings.
The Madison County District Attorney's Office has now secured convictions against three of the four Mickey Cobra Nation members charged in Swain's murder. The combined sentences for Larry, Samuels, and Craver total 315 years. A fourth defendant, whose name has not been released, is expected to stand trial later this year.
Separately, Donavan Harris's conviction for the 2023 murder of Jullian Craig closes the case that started the entire chain. Craig was 15, the same age Larry was when he conspired to kill the witness to Craig's death. Harris's sentence has not been reported.
Anderson, a city of roughly 54,000 people northeast of Indianapolis, has now seen a 15-year-old murder victim, a 26-year-old bystander killed in a gang hit gone wrong, and a 15-year-old shooter sentenced to a century in prison, all connected by the same web of gang violence. The open questions are few. The intended target's identity remains undisclosed. The fourth defendant's trial date has not been set. But the core facts are settled by jury verdict and judicial sentence.
Three hundred fifteen years of combined prison time will not bring Dayla Swain home to her family. But a state that treats gang murder with the seriousness it deserves, regardless of the defendant's age, sends a message that accountability still means something in at least one American courtroom.
