Pregnant woman awakens from coma to find her baby born via emergency C-section, a gunshot wound to her head, and her boyfriend suspected of attempted murder

A Georgia antheral is headed to situation for decades aft shooting his pregnant girlfriend successful the caput successful an effort to termination their unborn child. The unfortunate woke up from a coma with nary representation of what happened and had to person an exigency C-section to prevention the child.

"Based connected the defendant's connection to detectives … helium did not privation the unfortunate to person the child," an apprehension affidavit obtained by Law&Crime said astir Donald Wooten. The 27-year-old was sentenced to 60 years successful situation past week aft being convicted of attempted murder, transgression effort to perpetrate feticide, and possession of a firearm during the committee of a felony.

"The defendant's motive was to termination the unborn kid by shooting the unfortunate successful the head," the affidavit said. "As a effect of this incident, the unfortunate had to acquisition an exigency C-section … to prevention her baby."

The DeKalb County District Attorney's Office announced Thursday that a assemblage recovered Wooten blameworthy for the March 2023 shooting onslaught aft prosecutors showed them however helium attacked his woman adjacent a walking way astatine Chapel Hill Park successful Decatur.

"According to the investigation, officers with the DeKalb County Police Department responded astir 7 a.m. to a 911 telephone reporting an unresponsive pistillate adjacent the walking trail," the DA's bureau recounted. "EMTs recovered a visibly large pistillate lying successful the fetal position, awake but not communicating, with a coiled to the backmost of her head."

The unfortunate was transported to a section infirmary and aesculapian staffers determined she suffered a gunshot coiled to her caput and that she was 22 weeks pregnant. Initially, detectives couldn't talk with the unfortunate owed to her incoherent state, but the victim's household told investigators they suspected Wooten was down the shooting.

Police interviewed Wooten and helium "informed detectives that helium initially did not privation the unfortunate to person the kid and helium was upset that the unfortunate chose to spell done with the pregnancy," per the affidavit. Wooten provided detectives with an alibi, claiming helium was with a idiosyncratic who aboriginal denied knowing him.

"When they spoke with him implicit the phone, helium told officers he'd gone to a movie with the unfortunate the nighttime earlier she was found, past backmost to the flat analyzable wherever they some lived," the DA's bureau explained. "After parting ways, helium said helium went to his secondary flat successful Atlanta."

Prosecutors said a receipt recovered successful the victim's car and substance messages corroborated the travel to the movies, but determination records from Wooten's cellphone and the victim's telephone did not lucifer the communicative of traveling to Ellenwood.

"Two months aft she was shot, constabulary were capable to interrogation the unfortunate astatine the hospital," the DA's bureau said. "She recalled being astatine the parkland with the suspect precocious astatine nighttime but did not retrieve being shot. The suspect was questioned again by constabulary and reiterated the 2nd mentation of his story. He was arrested without incident."

In jailhouse calls, Wooten allegedly asked a comparative to hitch his cellphone remotely aft constabulary collected it arsenic evidence. Police managed to extract information from it earlier the telephone was wiped.

"Messages betwixt suspect Wooten and the unfortunate revealed they were arguing implicit the gestation and their aboriginal together," the DA's bureau recounted. "In the days pursuing the shooting, helium sent messages asking idiosyncratic to retrieve a weapon and bullets from his apartment, and reminding idiosyncratic to archer constabulary they'd been unneurotic the nighttime of the incident."

During Wooten's trial, the unfortunate testified that she recalled driving herself and Wooten to the movie, past backmost to their flat complex. She said that Wooten suggested they spell to Chapel Hill Park.

"The victim's past representation is walking successful the parkland with the defendant," the DA's bureau said.

Wooten was recovered blameworthy connected April 20.