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LaSonya Larry


Inmate Name: LaSonya Larry Charge: Second-degree murder Sentence: 18 years Prison: Lowell Correctional Institution, Florida LaSonya Larry was born in 1971 and grew up in Clearwater, Florida. It was primarily her grandmother who cared for her as her mother was on drugs, and living on the street with different men. At a young age, LaSonya had an accident that left her partially blind. But the pain from that incident was overshadowed by her mother’s absence. As a young adolescent, a defiant LaSonya would stay out late searching for her mother, and dropped out of school by the end of the seventh grade. In her teens, LaSonya was hustling and turning tricks, and had a daughter, Janelle, by the time she was 15. Janelle was left with relatives as her mother went back to her life on the streets. LaSonya had repeated drug arrests and a prison sentence also related to cocaine. When she was 22, LaSonya’s mother passed away and she became addicted to crack cocaine, turning to sex to support her habit. She had a total of six daughters, all of them from different men. Except for Janelle, LaSonya did not see much of her daughters, who were cared for by relatives or adopted. She found herself in allegedly abusive relationships with men where physical fights would often be a component. Three men filed aggravated battery complaints against her but she was never formally charged. The cycle would be repeated until she met an older man, Sheddred "Rat" Burney. LaSonya says she had real feelings for Rat but her daughter Janelle says there were conditions to the relationship—that she was basically a live-in prostitute. LaSonya claims that Rat was abusive and that he undermined her self esteem. By 2006, LaSonya and Rat each made domestic disturbance calls to the police but with nowhere else to go, she kept retuning to the house after each dispute. On March 23, 2007 a fight broke out between the two when, after cooking LaSonya dinner, Rat allegedly demanded that she have sex with him, and LaSonya refused to do so. LaSonya claims that Rat hit her across the neck with an instrument like an antenna. She snatched the antenna from Rat, and then saw a knife on a small table. Instantaneously, she grabbed the knife and swung it. According to LaSonya, Rat was still alive when she left the house and went to her old neighborhood to get high. The next day, Rat’s body was found on the floor of the master bedroom. Police arrested LaSonya, who gave a detailed confession and claimed self-defense. She was charged with second-degree murder. Instead of facing a trial where she could have been sentenced to life, she took a plea bargain for 18 years in prison. She will be released in 16 years.