An Alabama woman was eight months pregnant when she shot and killed another pregnant woman in front of her children. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Aaniyah Nowden, 24, received the sentence on Friday after being convicted of capital murder in the killing of 36-year-old Justina Wallace. While prosecutors first sought the death penalty, the court finally imposed a life sentence instead.
The incident happened on July 7, 2023, in Birmingham, Alabama. According to police reports, Wallace was at a home in the 3200 Block of 17th Avenue North when Nowden approached her with a pistol. Wallace was many months pregnant and holding her young daughter when the argument occurred, with two of her sons standing just steps away. Nowden fired the weapon, striking Wallace, who was taken to a local hospital and died of her injuries the next day.
Investigators discovered a personal connection between the two women: the father of Wallace’s toddler is also the father of Nowden’s child. Nowden’s kid was born while she was in police custody after the shooting.
During the trial, the defense claimed that Nowden acted in self-defense, portraying Wallace as “aggressive” and “belligerent” on the day of the shooting. Prosecutors denied this assertion, claiming that Wallace constituted no physical threat.
“This defendant shot and killed a pregnant woman who was carrying nothing but her baby Sky in her arms,” Deputy District Attorney Jason Wilson said during the trial. “Justina had no weapon, no gun; she wasn’t attacking anybody.”
The final sentencing takes a convoluted path to a verdict. Nowden’s first trial ended in a mistrial earlier this month after the prosecution and defense rejected numerous potential jurors, leaving an inadequate number to form the panel. A second trial was successfully completed, with the jury convicting Nowden of capital murder.
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