“It is the order of this court that Johnny Sketo Mack Calhoun be sentenced to death in a manner prescribed by the state of Florida for the first-degree murder of Mia Chay Brown,” said Chief Judge Christopher Patterson.
After the eight-day resentencing hearing in April, a jury recommended that Calhoun receive the death penalty for the 2010 murder of Mia Chay Brown.
The jury voted 9-3, and on Friday, Chief Judge Patterson once again delivered that sentence.
“Mia Brown was killed 5698 days from today. People must be held accountable for their actions. The more serious the crime, the more serious the punishment must be. The punishment must fit the crime. Two times a jury has said that death is the appropriate sentence in this case,” 14th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Larry Basford said.
Despite the defense’s efforts to paint Calhoun as a man who suffered from a traumatic past filled with abuse and substance addiction, prosecutors reaffirmed the three aggravating factors that resulted in Calhoun’s conviction in the first place.
During the hearing, prosecutors argued Calhoun was convicted of kidnapping and that the especially heinous and cruel murder of Brown was cold and calculated.
Brown had offered to help Calhoun by giving him a ride from his residence on December 16, 2010. She was gagged, restrained, and alive when Calhoun attacked her; she was found in the trunk of her burned car in the woods.
In April, Brown’s family had to relive the trial 15 years later.
On Friday, Brown’s family told News13 the relief they felt from the resentencing stretched beyond personal reasons.
“Piper [Mia’s sister] drove 9 hours. And I think that it was for both of us. It was worth it, those 3 minutes. And when a judge has that amount of clarity and conviction toward a case. And support for the jury that sat through that long, tedious process. I think it states a lot about the situation. The defense pulled out every loophole and every extreme excuse for what he did, and the judge was that quickly able to make that decision. think that says a lot about the case. I think that says a lot about what Mia endured,” Brown’s sister Megan Krisar said.
Calhoun told Judge Patterson he had nothing to say before he was resentenced, but Brown’s sisters are speaking out about what having to relive this process has been like for them.
“To go through this process again has been extremely emotional. It’s been physically taxing, but it’s been something that I think as a family, we’ve been grateful to do so that hopefully no one else has to go through this resentencing process the way that we did and that it kind of solidifies that when a jury makes a decision, that it’s final,” Krisar explained.
“It wasn’t just our family that was affected. His choices affected his own family. And that is what’s so great about our justice system, because this is a resentencing, a second time over. And all of the facts were found again and again and even more so this time,” Brown’s sister Piper Trejo said.
Calhoun’s death sentence will automatically be appealed to the Florida Supreme Court; Basford feels confident it will be upheld.
“I have the utmost confidence in our criminal justice system that the Florida Supreme Court will say that death is the appropriate sentence in this case. Once again, that means the defendant has a date with destiny. One day in the future, he will be strapped to a gurney. They will place a needle in his arm, and he will die by lethal injection. I look forward to that day.”
As for Brown’s family, they said they carry Mia’s memory in their hearts every day and will continue to do so.
“This is somewhat her birthday present. July 8th is her birthday. She would have been 40. So big, big, momentous year. And we think about her every day, especially right now,” Piper & Megan said.
“We continually remember Mia in the way that we live and love. And she truly had a heart of gold, and she lit up a room,” Kriser added.
"Hurst"
Calhoun was originally convicted and sentenced to death in 2012 after a jury recommended the penalty by a 9-3 vote, but he received a new sentencing hearing due to the 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Hurst v. Florida, which struck down Florida’s prior death penalty scheme for giving judges excessive authority over aggravating factors instead of requiring greater jury involvement.
In April 2026, following an eight-day resentencing proceeding under the updated state law (requiring at least eight jurors for a death recommendation), a new jury again voted 9-3 in favor of death after prosecutors proved aggravating factors, including commission during a kidnapping; the especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel nature of the crime; and cold, calculated premeditation.
The judge formally reimposed the sentence on July 24, noting that two juries had now deemed death the appropriate punishment, while the case will automatically be appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.
Source: NEWS34, Grace Velez, July 25, 2026
"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
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