NASHVILLE – Gov. Phil Bredesen this morning commuted the death sentence of Gaile Owens to life in prison.
“This is a complex and emotional case and I’ve considered it carefully,” the governor told reporters.
Ms. Owens was convicted by a Shelby County jury in 1986 of being an accessory before the fact to first-degree murder in the murder-for-hire plot of her husband, Roger Owens. He was beaten to death in 1985.
Gov. Bredesen said there were two issues that were important to him. The first is “there’s at least the possibility” of Ms. Owens having been in an “abusive marriage.”
Secondly, Gov. Bredesen said, prosecutors had originally offered Ms. Owens a plea bargain deal, which she had accepted.