2- to 4-year term in missed punch death of pregnant woman

By Joseph A. Slobodzian, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Posted: August 09, 2012

Bad blood, fisticuffs and a thrown punch that missed its target but hit and killed a pregnant woman last year outside Philadelphia Traffic Court today resulted in a 2- to 4-year prison term for a West Philadelphia man.

Walter Williams's sentence for involuntary manslaughter in the Feb. 7, 2011 death of Tovoyia Owens, 21, will be served consecutive to a 2-1/2 to 5 year prison term he has already begun serving in an unrelated drug case.

"You set in motion a chain reaction that led to the death of this poor girl," Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart told Williams.

"I wish I could have taken that punch instead of her," Williams told Minehart before sentencing. Williams apologized to Owens' family and his own.

Williams, 28, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in May by Minehart after a nonjury trial.

Williams was arrested after he and others accidentally encountered Owens and her boyfriend outside Traffic Court at Eighth and Spring Garden Streets.

According to Assistant District Attorney Brendan O'Malley, Owens' boyfriend and Williams had been feuding for some time. An argument ensued and Williams threw a punch that missed its target but hit Owens in the head.

The blow caused Owens' head to twist and tore an artery to her brain. The pregnant mother of a three-year-old girl died an hour later.

Defense attorney Robert Marc Gamburg had asked unsuccessfully for Williams' prison term to run concurrent with the term he is serving, calling Owens' death a "freak type of injury."

Contact Joseph A. Slobodzian at 215-854-2985, jslobodzian@phillynews.com, or @joeslobo on Twitter.

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