MEMPHIS, TN – A judge sentenced a former Shelby County jailer to four years probation for killing her boyfriend, a Memphis Police Officer.
Monique Johnson was convicted of Reckless Homicide, February 15, 2008, for killing Officer Tony Hayes. Prosecutors say Johnson killed Hayes after a fight in 2006. The Shelby County District Attorneys Office opposed the sentence, but say with the current sentencing laws; she would have been eligible for parole if sentenced to prison.
During Johnson’s trial, she testified that the day Hayes was killed, she confronted him about text messages she found on his cell phone from another woman. She said she contacted the woman who sent the messages, then argued with Hayes. She said the argument turned physical and she asked him to leave. She said Hayes acted as if he was leaving, then turned around and came toward her. She said she believed Hayes was going to hurt her, so she shot him in self defense.
Johnson said, after the shooting, she panicked and was afraid to call police because she feared the officers would hurt her because Hayes was a police officer. She said she called her son to help her put his body in the trunk of Hayes' car.
Hayes was missing for nearly a week before his body was discovered in the trunk of his Lexus at an East Memphis apartment complex. Johnson's son, Donald Wallace, who was 16 at the time, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact.
Prosecutors argued in court that Johnson did not kill Hayes out of fear, but jealousy. Prosecutors say that is what led her to plan the killing of Hayes.
