Sara Mohan has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 20 years with 19 years suspended, in the shooting of Amos Fowler. She was given credit for time served.

The dispute among friends and family that resulted in the shooting took place in December of 2005.

Assistant Attorney General Scott Johnson said the incident began while Fowler was on a hunting trip with his son and a juvenile in Alabama. While on the trip he called his home to speak to his daughter, but instead of his daughter answering the phone, Mohan answered, telling Fowler that he could not speak to his daughter. His wife at the time, Karen Fowler, was not home because she had checked herself into an inpatient treatment center.

The next day Fowler left from the trip to check on the situation at his home. On his way back, he got a call from a family friend telling him that his Hummer H-3 was parked at a restaurant in Slidell, La., when it was supposed to be parked at his home since his wife was in the hospital.

Hearing this, Fowler headed to the Slidell restaurant but on the way he saw the vehicle heading back towards Picayune on the Interstate. Fowler turned around and followed the vehicle. When he caught up with the H-3, his son, Michael Fowler, got out and ran up to the H-3 to find out who was driving it, but it sped off. Ultimately Amos Fowler found the vehicle parked at Mohan’s residence, behind her home, and that Mohan’s son had been driving it, Johnson said.

As he pulled up to the residence and spoke with Mohan she pulled her Mercedes SUV up to the entrance of the driveway, blocking his way onto her property. Fowler and Mohan had a discussion at the base of the driveway on the public road. Johnson said Amos Fowler attempted to talk Mohan into retrieving his daughter and his H-3.

An argument ensued so the juvenile volunteered to get the H-3. During the argument between Amos Fowler and Mohan, the juvenile got the keys and headed onto the property, while Michael Fowler called the local law enforcement, Johnson said. As the juvenile entered Mohan’s property to get the H-3 and Amos Fowler’s daughter, Mohan pulled a pistol from her overalls and began to track the juvenile’s movements with her gun across her yard. Amos Fowler screamed for her not to shoot at the juvenile and stepped toward her on her property. Mohan then turned her attention to Fowler and fired her pistol four times at him as he ran toward a pond for cover. He was hit him three times; once in the arm, once in his back exiting through his chest and a third time in the back of the head. The bullet that hit Amos Fowler’s head followed the skin along his skull but did not enter the skull.

Michael Fowler then got his deer rifle from the vehicle to protect his father, as his father ran to the pond and screamed for his son’s help. Michael shot Mohan in her midsection to protect his father, Johnson said. Michael retrieved Amos Fowler, put him in the vehicle and drove him to the hospital while the juvenile drove the H-3 off of Mohan’s property through a fence, since her vehicle still blocked the driveway. In the commotion Amos Fowler’s daughter stayed at Mohan’s residence, Johnson said.

During Mohan’s sentencing held on Thursday, with the honorable Circuit Court Judge R.I. Pritchard presiding, Pritchard said Mohan entered a guilty plea to the charge of aggravated assault on Oct. 7, 2009. The pre-sentence investigation report, which Pritchard read aloud during the proceedings after defense attorney K.C. Hightower said he had not had been provided with a copy, stated that Mohan was not a convicted felon, but has been listed as disabled since 2003. As a result of the gunshot she suffered in the 2005 incident, Mohan is now in a wheel chair and is still listed as disabled.

Amos Fowler filed for the court to impose a $300,000 restitution for wages lost in the aftermath of the incident. Based on the fact that Mohan is disabled and she does not have the finances to pay those fines, that restitution was waived. Hightower said instead she will have to pay $3,715.25 in medical expense restitution for Amos Fowler’s injuries and in a separate charge of a separate incident of grand larceny, she will pay $12,749.51 in restitution; the grand larceny charge was dropped with the understanding she would pay that restitution, Hightower said.

Pritchard sentenced Mohan to 20 years of jail time, with 19 of those years to be suspended for the aggravated assault charge. Credit for the time she has served so far will also be applied. Circuit Court staff report she has been jail since July 8, of this year. Johnson said she has been in jail since that time because previous attempts to hold the trial failed when she did not show for court. During her 19 years of post release supervision, if Mohan is convicted of committing another crime, she will serve the remainder of those 19 years, in addition to any other time that is applied for the subsequent conviction, Pritchard said. She also can no longer possess a firearm.

After the sentence was handed down, Fowler said he felt justice was done, but thought she could have received more time. He then recanted even though he speculates the whole incident was a plot to have him killed so his now deceased ex-wife, Karen Fowler, could collect money.

“It doesn’t do good for me for Sara Mohan to sit in jail,” Fowler said.

Amos Fowler said his ex-wife passed away from an overdose.