A Hamilton County judge has ordered a Cincinnati man to spend the bulk of his life in prison after a pair of deadly shootings rocked Westwood last summer. On Friday, 24-year-old Malik Blanchard was sentenced to 47 years to life after pleading guilty to two counts of murder and a felonious assault charge in killings that left a 17-year-old and a 22-year-old dead and another victim wounded. Relatives of both victims crowded into the courtroom and read victim-impact letters that laid out, in painful detail, how the losses have reshaped their families.
The sentence came as part of a negotiated plea agreement, according to WKRC Local 12. Prosecutors said Blanchard shot and killed 17-year-old Jay’Shawn Cornelious on June 3, 2025, then six days later fatally shot 22-year-old Treasure Aika Thomas while also injuring Thomas’s boyfriend. Judge Christopher Wagner imposed a term of 47 years to life, with the possibility of parole.
Two shootings six days apart
Prosecutors told investigators the first attack unfolded on June 3 outside a Westwood home on Percy Avenue, when Cornelious was hit by gunfire as he ran back toward the house, according to WCPO. Six days later, authorities say Blanchard went to an apartment in the 200 block of Westwood Northern Boulevard and opened fire. Four bullets struck Thomas inside the unit, and she later died of her injuries, while her boyfriend survived the attack. The Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office has said the two incidents were initially investigated as separate cases.
Defense account
Blanchard’s attorneys told the court that their client had been assaulted outside a party in the lead-up to the June 9 shooting and that several men had jumped him and shot him in the leg. They argued that this history of violence and trauma played into the plea discussions, as reported by WKRC Local 12. Defense counsel asked the judge to weigh that background while noting that Blanchard was accepting responsibility by entering the plea. The court accepted the agreement and imposed the jointly recommended sentence.
Family reaction and past record
In emotional statements, both families urged the judge to hand down the maximum punishment. According to excerpts published by FOX19, relatives described overwhelming grief, anger and a sense that their lives had been permanently altered. Court filings and reporting indicate Blanchard had a lengthy juvenile record and was released from state custody in April 2025, roughly three months before the killings, as detailed by FOX19 Now. Prosecutors and victims’ families told the court that his record and the circumstances of the shootings factored heavily into the plea negotiations.
Legal details
Court records show that before the plea deal, Blanchard faced a slate of serious charges, including aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault and improper discharge of a firearm into a habitation, according to WCPO. He had been held at the Hamilton County Justice Center on a $1.5 million bond while the cases moved through the courts. The plea agreement resolved multiple counts and specifications in exchange for the 47-years-to-life sentence.
Hoodline previously covered the neighborhood’s grief and a community vigil after the June shooting, including a balloon release in remembrance of the teen; see coverage of the community vigil after the shooting for earlier reporting. While the sentencing closes the criminal cases, local leaders and prosecutors say efforts to confront gun violence in Westwood are still very much underway.
