Indianapolis Teacher Sentenced for Encouraging Classroom Brawls
Julious Johnican receives two-year prison sentence for neglect of a dependent after filming students fight.
An Indianapolis elementary school teacher has been sentenced to two years in prison for encouraging and filming what a lawsuit described as "Fight Club"-style brawls among students in his classroom. Julious Johnican, 25, received his sentence on Thursday for neglect of a dependent, a level 6 felony in Indiana.
The incidents came to light in the fall of 2023 when Johnican, who had begun teaching at an Indianapolis Montessori school that year, attempted to show parents of a 7-year-old student a video he believed would reassure them. Instead, the video captured one student repeatedly punching another while Johnican appeared to encourage the violence, saying, "That's right. You get to him. I know you want to get him when he does things."
The parent of the child being attacked later filed a lawsuit, describing the classroom discipline as "reprehensible."
The child had reportedly complained to his mother about being "attacked, bullied, threatened and injured in the classroom" between August and November 2023, and stated that the abuse was "being done at the instruction of the teacher."
Johnican resigned from his teaching position before he could be fired. The lawsuit filed by the mother of the victim resulted in a $1.2 million payout.
Johnican pleaded guilty to the neglect charge on August 4. The two-year sentence is just under the maximum of 2 1/2 years. Prosecutor Ryan Mears stated that the sentence "holds [Johnican] accountable" and that "Schools are supposed to be safe spaces where children can learn, grow and feel protected. The defendant abused the trust placed in him as an educator and subjected vulnerable children to the unthinkable."
However, an attorney representing the family of the boy who was filmed being attacked expressed doubt about Johnican's understanding of the gravity of his actions, telling Fox59, "I don’t think, from the impression I got today, that he understands the gravity [of his crimes]. He should by now, but I don’t think he does."
