ALABAMA – An 86-year-old man convicted of killing a south Alabama police officer has died in prison.
Donald Lewis Owen, convicted in the 1980 shooting death of Chickasaw Police Officer John Dotson, died at 1:51 a.m. Monday at William Donaldson Correction Facility, according to the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office. At the time of his death, said Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates, Owen was under the care of prison medical and died of natural causes.
The deadly shotgun shooting happened April 8, 1980 when Dotson was issuing a traffic citation to Owen, who was 45 at the time. Testimony showed Owen had left work at a Mobile paper company and stopped at a bar where he drank four to eight beers. After leaving the bar shortly after 2 a.m., he was stopped by Dotson on Highway 43 in Saraland. Reports said the slain officer was still clutching the citation in his hand when he was found with gunshot wounds to his face and torso.
Owen was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole. In 1989 and again in 1992 he received new trials and was sentenced to life without parole each time.
