A former Indianapolis Public Schools teacher charged with encouraging and filming a student fight has pleaded guilty and is asking a judge to reduce the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Julious Johnican was a first-year teacher at George Washington Carver School 87 in 2023. Soon after the start of the school year, a cell phone video was discovered that Johnican had filmed, in which he is heard encouraging another student to keep beating up a second-grade student with disabilities, who is sobbing.
After the video was made public, Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears announced he was charging Johnican with neglect of a dependent, a Level 6 felony. The charge comes with a a sentence of between six months to two and a half years.
Johnican originally pleaded not guilty, but during the Tuesday hearing in Marion County Superior Court he asked to change his plea to guilty and that his charge be reduced to a Class A misdemeanor.
During the hearing, Johnican’s attorney, Samuel Fife, made the argument that since he was admitting to guilt, has no prior convictions and doesn’t plan to go back into teaching, his charge should be lessened.
“This is not the typical person you see in the criminal justice system,” Fife said during the hearing.
However, the attorney for the state, Juan Pablo Roman-Lagunas, maintained that a level 6 felony was appropriate for this case and that Johnican’s actions speak for themselves.
“It was a minute and a half of two children violently fighting each other, and the person who was entrusted in their care is recording, not intervening, and saying ‘you get him’,” the attorney said. “That is appalling.”
Judge Clark Rogers did not decide Johnican’s sentencing at Tuesday’s hearing after saying he needed more time to deliberate.
The case’s next hearing has been set for Sept. 24.
Parents of some of the children who were under Johnican’s care also read statements during Tuesday’s hearing, all in support of Johnican receiving the maximum penalties.
Corrie Horan, the mother of a student, filed a federal civil lawsuit against the district in April 2024, alleging Johnican ran a "fight club" style of discipline that led other students to physically abuse her son, who has a disability. The lawsuit named the IPS school board, Superintendent Aleesia Johnson, Johnican and other staff.
“Two and a half years doesn't even compare to what we have lived in the past three years, and what we are still living through,” Horan said.
Horan’s son was taken out of the school after the 2023 incident and has remained in homeschooling since.
Horan and the district agreed to dismiss the case in April 2025.
The aftermath
The aftermath of the video, and the subsequent knowledge that neither IPS nor the Department of Child Services properly notified law enforcement of the abuse allegations, caused major backlash among IPS parents.
WFYI reported law enforcement agencies weren’t informed by the Department of Child Services nor IPS officials that a Johnican had filmed and encouraged the students to fight. And DCS and IPS did not tel the Indiana Department of Education about the issue either. WFYI confirmed this breakdown in communication goes against DCS policy.
Superintendent Johnson said at the time that the district “fell short” for not properly informing parents of the alleged abuse.
The IPS school board also created the mental health and school culture task force in reaction to the events that happened at School 87. The goal of the task force was to evaluate the climate and culture of every school in IPS. The last time the group met publicly was last October.
IPS Board president Hope Duke Star, who started the task force, told WFYI that the task force is not disbanded and that work is still ongoing but that the recent creation of the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation has taken priority. Star also serves on the IPEC board.
Johnican resigned from his position not long after concerns were raised by parents. His teaching license was not revoked but expired in August 2025, according to the state’s teacher license database.
Attorneys for the state are also asking that the court require Johnican to voluntarily relinquish his teaching licenses.
Catherine Michael, an attorney representing the families in the case, says that the Indiana Department of Education needs to improve how it tracks and revokes teacher licenses when they are accused of abuse or wrongdoing.
“In many cases, we see situations where charges don't get filed, even with substantiated abuse claims, and these people remain in the classrooms, and it's a real problem, and it absolutely needs to change,” Michael said.
Contact Government Reporter Caroline Beck at cbeck@wfyi.org
