Brooks Cleary learned his fate this week in the death of Hailey Johnson, inset. (Victim’s photo from her obituary; Courtroom screenshot from 11Alive/YouTube)
A Georgia man who prosecutors said sat on a shotgun covered under clothes and told first responders his girlfriend had a seizure when she had been shot in the head was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Brooks Cleary, 22, learned his fate this week in the death of Hailey Johnson, 21, on Dec. 26, 2022. He was found guilty of concealing the death of another, making false statements, and two counts of interference with government property.
Questions remained over her manner of death after an autopsy deemed it undetermined.
“I guess there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that it wasn’t suicide but there wasn’t to prove that it was a homicide,” the victim’s mother, Barbara Johnson, told Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB-TV.
Prosecutors wanted 25 years, but the judge questioned whether the charge of concealing the death was proved beyond a reasonable doubt, Atlanta’s NBC affiliate WXIA reported.
“The moving of the gun sounds more like tampering, which might have been a more appropriate charge,” Cobb County Superior Court Judge Jason Marbutt said, the station reported. “My job again is without fear or favor to follow due process in weighing that concealment against other types of concealment — where the examples might be dismembering a body, burning a body, moving a body and hiding it in the woods and burying it for months on end — is simply different than the concealment we have for the facts of this case — where the facts are within 5 to 10 minutes, you were downstairs obtaining someone to come upstairs and asking them to call the police.”
Based on that, Cleary’s lawyer planned to file for a new trial, the station reported.
The victim’s family was disappointed in the sentence.
“Devastated, she didn’t get justice. And what he was sentenced for is not what he did to my daughter,” said her mother, Barbara Johnson.
Cleary had testified that he blacked out drunk, WSB-TV reported.
“She wasn’t responding. I only remember little clips of running and getting help, telling them to call 911,” said Cleary, the outlet reported.
Hailey Johnson had turned 21 about a month before she was killed.
“I lost my beautiful, sweet, happy daughter Hailey on Dec 26, 2022,” her mother said on GoFundMe. “We are devastated and lost beyond words.”
She said her daughter nursed her back to health in 2016 when she got sick and was almost completely paralyzed for more than a year.
“I’m able to use a walker, drive and function all due to Hailey and Stella taking such good care of me,” she said. “She was the most incredible big sister to Stella, always providing love, support and comfort; she was a perfect daughter, she regularly woke me up with a good morning text that always brightened my day.”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
