An Alabama woman who was eight months pregnant has been sentenced to life without parole for fatally shooting a pregnant mother of five who was holding her toddler.
A Jefferson County jury convicted Aaniyah Nowden, 24, of capital murder and a court sentenced her on Friday, May 29, after a retrial. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty.
Nowden shot 36-year-old Justina Wallace at a Birmingham home on July 7, 2023, and Wallace died the next day. Wallace was several months pregnant, and her unborn baby did not survive.
The two women were pregnant by the same man, who had also fathered Wallace’s toddler. Wallace was holding that child, and two of her sons stood nearby, when Nowden approached with a gun and fired.
Nowden testified that she acted in self-defense, and her lawyers described Wallace as aggressive. Prosecutors rejected that account. “Justina had no weapon, no gun, she wasn’t attacking anybody,” Deputy District Attorney Jason Wilson said.
An earlier trial this month ended in a mistrial after too few jurors remained once both sides struck several. Nowden faced three counts of capital murder, and the shooting was reportedly captured on a cellphone.
