DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County man will spend decades behind bars after prosecutors say he shot his pregnant girlfriend in the head and abandoned her near a walking trail in Decatur.
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The DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that Donald Wooten, 27, was sentenced Wednesday to 60 years in prison after a jury convicted him of criminal attempt to commit murder, criminal attempt to commit feticide, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
The charges stem from a March 4, 2023, shooting involving Wooten’s pregnant girlfriend, who was 25 years old at the time.
Investigators say DeKalb County police officers responded around 7 a.m. to a 911 call about an unresponsive woman near the walking trail at Chapel Hill Park in unincorporated Decatur. First responders found the visibly pregnant victim lying in the fetal position with a wound to the back of her head.
The woman was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where doctors discovered she had been shot behind her left ear. She was placed in a medically induced coma.
Family members told investigators the victim’s boyfriend and the father of her unborn child could be involved. Prosecutors said the child was later born prematurely and survived.
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Police identified the boyfriend as Wooten. During an initial phone conversation with officers, Wooten claimed he and the victim had gone to a movie before returning to the apartment complex where they lived. He told investigators they later separated and that he went to a second apartment in Atlanta.
However, when Wooten later arrived at police headquarters, prosecutors said he changed his story.
According to investigators, Wooten then claimed the couple discussed problems in their relationship before the victim drove him to a friend’s house in Ellenwood after the movie.
Authorities said evidence contradicted that account.
A movie receipt and messages confirmed the couple went to the theater, but cell phone location data from both Wooten and the victim did not support the alleged trip to Ellenwood. Investigators also questioned the friend Wooten claimed to visit, who denied knowing him.
Two months after the shooting, investigators were able to interview the victim while she was still hospitalized. She told police she remembered going to the park late at night with Wooten, but did not remember being shot.
At trial, the victim testified that her last memory was walking through Chapel Hill Park with Wooten.
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Prosecutors also revealed evidence from jail calls after Wooten’s arrest. According to the DA’s office, Wooten asked a relative to remotely wipe his cellphone after police seized it as evidence. However, investigators had already secured a search warrant and extracted the phone’s data.
Messages recovered from the phone showed the couple arguing about the pregnancy and their future together, prosecutors said.
Authorities also said Wooten sent messages asking someone to retrieve a gun and bullets from his apartment and reminded another person to tell police they had been together the night of the shooting.
On April 20, a jury found Wooten guilty on all charges. A judge sentenced him to 60 years in custody.