Ala. man who fatally shot father, hurt mother granted bail

An Alabama man allegedly shot dead his father and injured his mother – but was still granted bail, which his surviving family members called a “slap in the face.”

John Adam Bowlin, 35, was arrested last week after allegedly shooting and killing his father, 61-year-old John D. Bowlin, and hurting his 60-year-old mother, Connie Bowlin, inside their Moody, Alabama home.

A judge on Tuesday offered him the chance to bond out for a total of $500,000 – a decision ripped by his family, who said the hurt mom still lives in fear of her son.

“She’s scared for her life,” the suspect’s sister, Heather Bowlin, told WVTM of their mom.

“She doesn’t know if he’s going to come back after her or someone else for that matter,” she said.

“It’s kind of a slap in the face.”

The judge’s decision to allow bond is a result of the 2022 passing of Aniah’s Law, which gives a judge discretion when assigning a bond to a defendant who has committed a violent crime.

Heather Bowlin acknowledged that her brother is unlikely to be able to stump up the money to make a bond.

Still, “There’s always that worry; just for me, my family, and my mom especially,” she said.

“We’d all like to see the judge go back and take a look at this and have the bond revoked.”

Mobile state Rep. Chip Brown, who wrote Aniah’s Law, said he disagreed with the judge’s choice — but said the law was written to be constitutional.

“It was important that we did it that way and we crafted it to specific cases and not just a blanket approach because whereas you commit a class a felony and are denied bond because that would not work under the constitution under the 8th amendment clause,” Brown said.

St. Clair County District Attorney Lyle Harmon’s office said they were disappointed in the decision but “trust the system.”

“We presented the case to the judge and while we can agree to disagree, our office will to continue to prosecute this man to the best of our ability, for murder,” the DA’s office said.

Bowlin remains in county jail, but if he were to bond out he would have to wear an ankle monitor and have no contact with his mother.