Woman accused in homicide of BG man wants out of plea deal
Published 6:00 am Sunday, July 5, 2026
A woman awaiting sentencing for crimes related to the 2023 death of a Bowling Green man has indicated she wishes to withdraw her guilty plea, and her attorney was allowed Wednesday to withdraw from the case.
Mayonna Jean Anthony, 22, of Georgetown, entered an Alford plea in May in Warren Circuit Court to charges of facilitation of first-degree manslaughter and two counts of tampering with physical evidence by complicity.
Anthony was accused of supplying information to Daivon Thompson that enabled Thompson to locate and fatally shoot Malik Lassiter, 24, near his Russellville Road apartment on May 11, 2023.
Court records show that Anthony had been brought to her home by Lassiter on the night on May 10, 2023, before he traveled back to Bowling Green, and that Anthony and Thompson had previously been in a relationship with one another.
In an Alford plea, a defendant denies wrongdoing but acknowledges enough evidence exists against them for a jury to return a guilty verdict.
Anthony and Thompson each entered Alford pleas on the day their trial was scheduled to begin, with Anthony’s plea agreement recommending a 15-year sentence and Thompson’s agreement calling for a 25-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea to charges of first-degree manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence.
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Sentencing for both co-defendants has been set for July 13, but Anthony appeared Wednesday in court alongside her attorney, Neal Tucker, for a hearing that was scheduled after Anthony called the office of Warren Circuit Judge Chris Cohron and left a voice mail in which she indicated she wanted to back out of the plea agreement.
Cohron represented in court Wednesday that Anthony said in the voice mail that she did not know what she needed to do to proceed with withdrawing from the plea agreement and that she “did not want to serve time for something she didn’t do.”
Questioned by the judge, Anthony confirmed that she left the voice mail and reaffirmed the gist of its contents.
Tucker said in court Wednesday that he spoke with Anthony ahead of the court proceedings and came away believing that Anthony wished to withdraw her guilty plea.
Tucker added that it would make sense for him to withdraw as Anthony’s lawyer, noting that it would be likely he would be called as a witness to testify regarding Anthony’s expressed wishes about her guilty plea.
Cohron asked Tucker if there was a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship that could not be reconciled.
“I do think there is just because I don’t know that (Anthony) actually trusts me at this point,” Tucker said.
Cohron allowed Tucker to withdraw as Anthony’s lawyer and said that a public defender would be appointed to represent Anthony ahead of a potential hearing on a motion to withdraw her guilty plea.
