COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Sentencing went forward Wednesday in the trial against Brooks Cleary, a man charged with concealing the death of his 21-year-old fiancé Hailey Johnson.
Hailey died in December 2022, and a jury found Cleary guilty of all charges filed against him. The prosecution was seeking 25 years, but because of concerns with the main charge of concealment, Cleary was only sentenced to 11 years behind bars.
“It was the three of us for so long and it’s like the third of us is gone. We’re devastated,” said Brenda Johnson, the mother of Hailey Johnson.
Brenda said her fight for justice continues after the judge had concerns with whether the concealing her death charge was proven beyond a reasonable doubt and his sentence was nowhere near the maximum.
“Weighing that concealment against other types of concealment, where it could be the dismembering a body, moving a body, hiding it in the woods, burying it for months on end, is simply different from the concealment we have for the fact of this case,” Judge Jason Marbutt said.
Cleary was also sentenced to 11 years in prison for the two counts of interfering with government property, making false statements, and concealing the death, but only one of those years is for the concealment charge.
“The moving of the gun sounds more like tampering, which might have been a more appropriate charge,” Marbutt explained.
Marbutt had considered invoking the 13th juror statute because of his concerns, but instead, when the defense filed a motion for a new trial, he allowed sentencing to move forward.
“When he let it go through, we had hoped the jury's verdict would stand,” Brenda said.
Cleary was facing up to 25 years in prison, but he was sentenced to only a fraction of that. Hailey's family isn't happy.
“Devastated, she didn’t get justice and what he was found guilty for it. And, what he was sentenced for is not what he did to my daughter," Brenda said.