Henderson
A Greenwood man has been sentenced to 36 years for shooting at two people multiple times in 2019.
Jonah S. Henderson, 20, was sentenced to 32 years in an Indiana Department of Correction facility on one count of attempted murder, a Level 1 felony, and to four years on one count of criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony, in Johnson County Circuit Court Monday. Henderson was previously found guilty of both charges during a bench trial presided by Johnson County Circuit Court Judge Andrew Roesener in July.
For the attempted murder charge, 30 years will be served in prison, while two years will be suspended to probation. For the criminal recklessness charge, the sentence will be evenly split between incarceration and probation. This sentence will begin after the completion of the attempted murder sentence, Roesener said.
Henderson also received a 449-day jail credit and will be required to complete the Recovery While Incarcerated program. As a condition of his probation, he was ordered to complete substance abuse and mental health treatment.
Henderson also pled guilty in three other pending cases against him, with two of the cases related to incidents inside the jail and the other a drug possession charge stemming from when he was out on bond. He was sentenced to time served in those cases.
A fourth case, a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief, was dismissed.
The charges result from an incident that occurred on Oct. 8, 2019 in White River Township. Police were dispatched around 11:30 a.m. that day to the 5000 block of Old Smith Valley Road for a report of shots fired. A man told police he had been shot at by Henderson, according to court documents.
The man told police he ran into Henderson at the gas station earlier that morning, and he and Henderson had exchanged dirty looks. Later, Henderson and a juvenile occupant of the car then followed him to a house on Old Smith Valley Road, court documents said.
That is when Henderson got out of the vehicle and pointed “something” at the man. The man heard multiple gunshots. One of the bullets broke glass on the porch and a second hit a wall above his head, according to court documents.
Officers at the scene found several bullet holes near the home — including one at head height near the door where the man and a woman were standing — on a cardboard box on the deck near the front door, and in a garbage can outside the home, court documents said.
After the shooting, Henderson told detectives he took an Uber to Walmart, where he stole a sweatshirt to conceal his identity. He then took an Uber to his Greenwood home and drove down to Edinburgh, where he was arrested later that day, according to court documents.
Henderson told Johnson County Sheriff’s Office detectives in an interview he bought the gun for $200 in Indianapolis, and he and a juvenile were going to the gas station when he saw the man and got angry. He told police the man had sold him fake marijuana when he was 12, according to court documents.
He also told detectives he shot at the man because he was trying to gain “street credibility,” court documents said.
During Henderson’s sentencing hearing on Monday, he read a letter to the court taking issue with several aspects of the case, including accusing witnesses of changing their testimony. He also said during this case, along with four other cases also filed against him since October 2019, he was dealing with the effects of drug use.
Later, he also brought up his juvenile court history, saying he was surrounded by teens who made things worse for him. Henderson wants a chance to be a good adult and is planning to get his GED and later take college classes, he said. He wants to take part in the Recovery While Incarcerated program, he said.
He said he plans to stay out of trouble and that he learned his lesson from the incident.
Carrie Miles, Henderson’s attorney, asked Roesener to consider Henderson’s age at the time of the incident, as he had only just turned 18 when the shooting occurred. Henderson has had a drug addiction and mental health issues in the past, and the mental health treatment was not effective. He was also using drugs at the time of the shooting, Miles said.
She addressed Henderson’s claim regarding him still being affected by drugs while in jail.
“Just because you get separated from the ability to use, it doesn’t mean the brain has changed,” Miles said.
She also said that while Henderson does not agree with the attempted murder conviction, he is sorry for his actions, Miles said.
Prosecutors disagreed with Henderson’s assessment of his case. During a cross-examination, special deputy prosecutor Jennifer Maple took issue with Henderson’s statement that he was using drugs during the other cases, as he was already in custody at the jail during them. Maple formerly worked for the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office and has been helping Johnson County Prosecutor Joe Villaneuva with trying the case. She is currently a deputy prosecutor in Clinton County, and came back to Johnson County on Monday to close the case, Villaneuva said.
Maple also took issue with Henderson’s statement that he learned his lesson and brought up two phone calls that he had made from the jail after having been found guilty on both charges in July. Both calls were played in open court.
In the first call, he referred to his charges as “petty a** s***.” In the second call, he discussed his plans after his conviction. Henderson said he planned to get handed packages of drugs and sell them while in prison. He did this with full knowledge that the call was recorded, officials said.
“It ain’t nothing to a thug,” Henderson was recorded saying in reference to the plan.
Prosecutors also brought up Henderson’s juvenile history, saying that he went through every program available in the juvenile system to help him, but instead of taking into account what he learned from the programs, he shot at someone. The additional charges filed against him, along with a history of incidents while at the Johnson County jail, also showed he did not learn his lesson, Maple said.
Henderson has also been in disciplinary seclusion at the jail for over a year and has had at least 18 disciplinary reports filed against him since September 2021. The most recent incident, which is from last week, is still under investigation, officials said.
Before issuing the sentence, Roesener told him that he was worried in the past that Henderson may come before him for a serious offense. Henderson had been before Roesener as a juvenile in the past, and Roesener believed that the system had done everything they could for him, he said.
Roesener also believed that it was easier for Henderson to commit this crime because he may not feel as much remorse for his actions compared to other people. There was no reason to pull a gun in this situation unless it was for self-defense, and Henderson tracked the victim down to shoot at him, he said.
“For what, Jonah?” Roesner said.
After the sentence was rendered, Henderson made the court aware of his intent to appeal the conviction and was assigned an attorney for the appeal.
