Bredesen Commutes Death Sentence Commutation to Life in Prison for Gaile Owens

 

NASHVILLE – Governor Phil Bredesen today commuted the death sentence of Gaile Owens to life imprisonment. The Governor announced the commutation at the Capitol today, citing the extraordinary sentence compared to similar Tennessee cases, that Ms. Owens consistently admitted her guilt and that she had accepted a conditional plea agreement for life imprisonment prior to her original trial as the reasons for granting the commutation.

 

On January 14, 1986, Owens was convicted of accessory before the fact to first-degree murder in the murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the beating death of her husband, Ron Owens, in 1985.

 

Bredesen received a clemency petition from Owens on July 31, 2009. The state Supreme Court had set an execution date of September 28, 2010. 

 

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