Men Get Life Sentences For Attack On Pregnant Woman
MOUNT CLEMENS (WWJ/AP) - Two men have received life prison sentences for shooting and setting fire to a pregnant Detroit woman because one of the men didn't want another child.
A jury in May found 23-year-old Warren residents Jamal Rogers and Antonio Mathis guilty of attempted murder and conspiracy.
On Tuesday, Macomb County Circuit Judge Richard Caretti in Mount Clemens gave the men the maximum sentence of life with the possibility of parole.
Authorities say Rogers and Mathis in May 2012 abducted Latonya Bowman, who was nine months pregnant, tied her up, set her on fire and shot her.
According to police, Bowman went to a Friday night drive-in movie with Rogers, her ex-boyfriend, and then drove him home to Warren.
That's when, in his garage, Mathis allegedly pointed a gun at Bowman, wrapped her in duct tape, forced her into her back seat and drove her to a vacant Detroit field, where he doused her in lighter fluid and set her on fire. Bowman was then shot in the shoulder.
Police say Bowman survived by rolling on the ground to extinguish the flames and pretending to be dead. Bowman, 22, suffered burns to her forehead and torso but has since recovered. She gave birth to a boy days after the attack.
Police said Rogers "made incriminating statements that he did not desire a third child," and thus wanted his former lover dead.
According to police, Rogers and Mathis first discussed the plot to murder Bowman back in March 2012 back when Rogers first discovered she was pregnant with his child.
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