DeKalb County: Man sentenced to 60 years for shooting pregnant girlfriend

DEKALB COUNTY, GA—DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced a conviction by jury trial in the case against a man who shot his pregnant girlfriend and abandoned her in a park.

During a sentencing hearing on Wednesday, May 13, Donald Wooten, 27, was sentenced to 60 years to serve in custody. DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Tangela Barrie presided over the trial

Wooten was found guiltyof Criminal Attempt to Commit a Murder, Criminal Attempt to Commit a Feticide, and Possession of a Firearm in connection with the shooting of his pregnant girlfriend, who was 25 at the time, on March 4, 2023.

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 at Chapel Hill Park in unincorporated Decatur. 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 Grady Hospital, and a gunshot wound was discovered behind her left ear. She was placed in a medically induced coma. The victim’s family informed officers that her boyfriend and the father of her unborn child may be a suspect. The child, who was later born prematurely, survived.

Officers identified the victim’s boyfriend as Donald Wooten. 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. After parting ways, he said he went to his secondary apartment in Atlanta.

Shortly after the phone call with police, Wooten arrived at police headquarters and told a different story. Wooten admitted that the couple had talked about issues in their relationship that evening. The victim drove him back to their apartment complex after the movie to pick up his phone, then took him to a friend’s house in Ellenwood.

A receipt found in the victim’s car and messages corroborated the trip to the movies, but cell phone location records from Wooten and the victim’s phones did not match the story of traveling to Ellenwood. When officers questioned the friend Wooten had claimed to visit, he denied knowing Wooten.

In May, two months after she was shot, police were able to interview the victim at the hospital. She recalled being at the park with the Defendant late at night but did not remember being shot. Wooten was questioned again by police and reiterated the second version of his story. He was arrested without incident.

In jail calls, Wooten asked a relative to wipe his cell phone remotely after police collected it as evidence, however a search warrant was secured, and data was extracted before the phone was wiped. Messagesbetween Defendant Wooten and the victim revealed they were arguing over the pregnancy and their future together. 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.

At trial, the victim testified that she recalled driving herself and the Defendant to the movie, then back to their apartment complex. She explained that Wooten suggested they go to Chapel Hill Park. The victim’s last memory is walking in the park with the Defendant.

The case, assigned to the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit, was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Tarver, with assistance from Senior Assistant District Attorney Allison Layton, District Attorney Investigator Jose Berrones, and Victim Advocate Veronica Pelaez Maya. DeKalb County Police Department Detective P. Wright led the initial investigation.