Donald Wooten (DeKalb County Sheriff's Office).
A Georgia man is headed to prison for decades after shooting his pregnant girlfriend in the head in an attempt to kill their unborn child. The victim woke up from a coma with no memory of what happened and had to have an emergency C-section to save the child.
"Based on the defendant's statement to detectives … he did not want the victim to have the child," an arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime said about Donald Wooten. The 27-year-old was sentenced to 60 years in prison last week after being convicted of attempted murder, criminal attempt to commit feticide, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
"The defendant's motive was to kill the unborn child by shooting the victim in the head," the affidavit said. "As a result of this incident, the victim had to undergo an emergency C-section … to save her baby."
The DeKalb County District Attorney's Office announced Thursday that a jury found Wooten guilty for the March 2023 shooting attack after prosecutors showed them how he attacked his girlfriend near a walking trail at Chapel Hill Park in Decatur.
"According to the investigation, officers with the DeKalb County Police Department responded around 7 a.m. to a 911 call reporting an unresponsive woman near the walking trail," the DA's office recounted. "EMTs found a visibly pregnant woman lying in the fetal position, awake but not communicating, with a wound to the back of her head."
The victim was transported to a local hospital and medical staffers determined she suffered a gunshot wound to her head and that she was 22 weeks pregnant. Initially, detectives couldn't speak with the victim due to her incoherent state, but the victim's family told investigators they suspected Wooten was behind the shooting.
Police interviewed Wooten and he "informed detectives that he initially did not want the victim to have the child and he was upset that the victim chose to go through with the pregnancy," per the affidavit. Wooten provided detectives with an alibi, claiming he was with a person who later denied knowing him.
"When they spoke with him over the phone, he told officers he'd gone to a movie with the victim the night before she was found, then back to the apartment complex where they both lived," the DA's office explained. "After parting ways, he said he went to his secondary apartment in Atlanta."
Prosecutors said a receipt found in the victim's car and text messages corroborated the trip to the movies, but location records from Wooten's cellphone and the victim's phone did not match the story of traveling to Ellenwood.
"Two months after she was shot, police were able to interview the victim at the hospital," the DA's office said. "She recalled being at the park with the defendant late at night but did not remember being shot. The defendant was questioned again by police and reiterated the second version of his story. He was arrested without incident."
In jail calls, Wooten allegedly asked a relative to wipe his cellphone remotely after police collected it as evidence. Police managed to extract data from it before the phone was wiped.
"Messages between defendant Wooten and the victim revealed they were arguing over the pregnancy and their future together," the DA's office recounted. "In the days following the shooting, he sent messages asking someone to retrieve a gun and bullets from his apartment, and reminding someone to tell police they'd been together the night of the incident."
During Wooten's trial, the victim testified that she recalled driving herself and Wooten to the movie, then back to their apartment complex. She said that Wooten suggested they go to Chapel Hill Park.
"The victim's last memory is walking in the park with the defendant," the DA's office said.
Wooten was found guilty on April 20.
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