Teen sentenced to life for Miami high schooler’s murder now has a release date

A man serving a life sentence for the murder of a Miami Central High school student — which he committed as a teen — heard his fate in a Miami courtroom on Friday.

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Jonathan Sawyer, 45, had his sentence reduced to 40 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation. Sawyer was 16 when he and another boy gunned down Ronniqueka “Nikki” Covington, 18.

Sawyer’s case was back in court decades after he was convicted due to a sentence review that Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson presided over. After 25 years, juveniles sentenced to life in prison are entitled to a sentence review, where a judge considers modifying a defendant’s sentence — and weighs evidence of a defendant’s rehabilitation, maturity, remorse and background.

Sawyer has already served about 28 years behind bars, meaning he could be released by 2038. When Sawyer completes his sentence, he will have to spend two years at a transitional release program, the judge ruled. Wolfson also ordered Sawyer to stay away from Covington’s loved ones as well as Covington’s boyfriend, who was injured in the shooting.

At the proceeding, prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Sawyer to 50 years. Defense attorneys, however, requested that Sawyer be released from prison and put on probation.

On Jan. 17, 1998, Sawyer and Shawn Singletary, then 17, shot and killed Covington, 18, and injured her boyfriend, who was hit by a bullet, while they were sitting in a car.

Covington was an honor roll student at Miami Central High School. She participated on the school’s band and color guard teams and was in the homecoming court.

According to the Herald archives, the two juveniles drove by in a dark-colored car before opening fire. They shot at the car 14 times. Seven of those gunshots came from Sawyer’s .45 caliber handgun, court records show.

Neither Covington nor her boyfriend were the intended targets of the shooting, court records indicate.

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A jury convicted Sawyer and Singletary, now 45, of first-degree murder and attempted murder in a trial in 1999.

Remorse and rehabilitation?

Just four years ago, Judge Wolfson held a resentencing hearing, where she ruled that Sawyer should spend the rest of his life in a Florida prison. During that proceeding, the judge concluded that there “would be little possibility of rehabilitation.”

But in the recent sentence review, Sawyer’s defense team pointed out how several relatives and friends testified that Sawyer has “matured in how he perceives the world and found a way to avoid conflict” while in prison.

The attorneys also highlighted how Sawyer has worked to better himself, obtaining his high school diploma, counseling at-risk youth and completing anger management and victim impact courses while in prison.

Sawyer, according to his attorneys, also endured severe childhood trauma. He and his siblings were abused by their father. And when he was 11, he witnessed his father killing his mother in a murder-suicide.

Despite his challenges, Sawyer “unquestionably accomplished a great deal against all odds during his incarceration,” his attorneys said in a filing.

During his 2022 hearings, Sawyer addressed Covington’s loved ones and apologized, begging them for their forgiveness and acknowledging the pain he caused them. According to court records, Sawyer said he wanted to hold himself accountable to “experience sincere and true remorse and begin to make steps towards change.”

Singleton, Sawyer’s codefendant, had his resentencing hearing in 2020. He is currently serving a life sentence at Everglades Correctional Institution, although court records indicate he may also receive a sentence review.

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