Johnson Mailos, the young Longview man convicted of stabbing a 16-year-old when he was the same age, was sentenced Friday to 18 years — the amount of time he's spent on earth.
Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Michael Evans told 18-year-old Mailos: "You took a life. The question that remains is what you will do with your own.”
Evans sentenced Mailos to 192 months for the second-degree murder charge and 24 months for the enhancement, plus 36 months of community custody.
One of Mailos's attorneys, Cecelia Andrews of the Cowlitz County Office of Public Defense, told The Daily News that Mailos would go to a juvenile rehabilitation facility until the age of 25.
She also told The Daily News they plan on filing an appeal.
Jamie M. Foster, another attorney for Mailos and also from the Cowlitz County Office of Public Defense, requested a sentence of 69 months plus an additional 24 months for the deadly weapon enhancement, while Cowlitz County prosecutors sought 300 months in prison along with the same 24-month deadly weapon enhancement, according to court documents.
Mailos delivered an allocution in which he apologized to everyone in the courtroom, including the victim's family seated on the right side of the Cowlitz County Jail Courtroom. At the same time, Mailos' supporters sat on the left side.
Mailos said that if he could, he would sacrifice his own life to bring the victim back. However, he would accept the sentence given to him and remarked, "I will keep my head up."
A jury found Mailos guilty of second-degree murder in November for the fatal stabbing of a R.A. Long student on Feb. 21, 2024, at a basketball court at Longview's Lake Sacajawea Park.
The victim sustained a stab wound to his right torso, causing one of his lungs to collapse.
He had to be resuscitated, and a portion of his lung was removed, according to court records. He died on March 22, 2024, at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland.
Cowlitz County Prosecutor Ryan Jurvakainen informed The Daily News that Mailos' sentencing hearing began on Dec. 19, but ran out of time and was rescheduled for Jan. 16.
