Hailey Johnson’s speaks out
The household of a Cobb County lady says the district lawyer dropped the ball on her murder case. Twenty-one-year-old Hailey Johnson’s household says they got a field stuffed with forensic proof that might have led to a homicide conviction. So, what went unsuitable?
COBB COUNTY, Ga. – The household of a Cobb County lady who died below suspicious circumstances says they had been by accident given a field containing graphic forensic proof associated to her demise—objects they consider might have supported a homicide cost.
SEE ALSO: Mom hopes podcast, on-line petition will spark reexamination of her daughter’s demise
The backstory:
Hailey Johnson, 21, died the day after Christmas in 2022 on the condo she shared along with her boyfriend, Brooks Cleary. Whereas Cleary was convicted in 2023 for concealing Johnson’s demise and making false statements, her household says he ought to have confronted a homicide cost.
Cleary is presently serving an 11-year sentence. However Johnson’s household says the case took one other disturbing flip after they went to retrieve private objects from authorities.
What they’re saying:
“There have been a variety of errors,” mentioned Barbara Johnson, Hailey’s mom. “Loads of issues that had been finished and a variety of issues cannot be mounted. However even nonetheless, there’s nonetheless loads of proof it is a homicide.”
“Once we went to get the proof, we had been actually purported to be getting my laptop computer and the telephones,” Barbara Johnson mentioned. “However they gave us the entire field of proof.”
Inside, the household discovered what they described as harrowing forensic materials.
“That was crushing,” Johnson mentioned. “They gave us the pellets from her head.”
Tyler Gardner, a pal of the sufferer, mentioned the contents additionally included blood-soaked clothes.
“The sweatshirt coated with items of her mind nonetheless on and soaking in blood—just like the precise proof—they gave us all that again,” Gardner mentioned.
The opposite aspect:
The Cobb County District Lawyer’s Workplace declined to remark when contacted Friday however has beforehand said: “If further proof surfaces later to warrant further expenses, it is going to actually be thought of.”
Dig deeper:
Hailey Johnson’s case has drawn consideration by the podcast Actual Life – Actual Crime. Her household hopes renewed scrutiny may result in additional authorized motion.
“For us, it’s Hayley. But it surely’s not simply Hayley,” Barbara Johnson mentioned. “Whenever you let murderers again out on the road with out paying for his or her crimes, then you definately’re additionally endangering everyone else’s daughter and everyone else’s sister.”
What’s subsequent:
In keeping with state information, Cleary stays incarcerated in a jail in Bulloch County, close to Savannah.
The Supply: FOX 5’s Rob DiRienzo spoke with the mom of Hailey Johnson for this text. The Cobb County District Lawyer’s Workplace declined to remark.
