A Colorado
woman was sentenced on Friday to 38 years in prison for beating a man to death
with a baseball bat because she wrongly suspected him of molesting a child, The Denver Post reported.
Forsythia
Owen, 32, of Englewood, was convicted of second-degree murder, first-degree
assault and tampering with evidence in the September 2013 death of Denzel
Rainey, 42.
Owen told
authorities she repeatedly struck Rainey with a Louisville Slugger bat as he
was sleeping in an alley because her 4-year-old daughter claimed he had touched
and sexually abused her.
Rainey was
found with a skull fracture, cuts to his head, a broken left arm, six broken
ribs, a laceration to the liver and a left testicle hemorrhage, CBS Denver reported. He died
hours later at a hospital.
Owen's
molestation claims against Rainey were unfounded and she had no evidence to
support them, authorities said. Owen, who had
been drinking and smoking marijuana, and had a history of mental illness and run-ins with the law, was urged by friends
to tell authorities of the allegations.
However, she
engaged in "misplaced, vigilante justice," said Jason Siers, senior
chief deputy district attorney in Arapahoe County.
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