A North Carolina woman will spend at least a decade in prison for killing her boyfriend after an argument over a custody dispute ended in gunfire on a West Asheville porch.
Buncombe County Superior Judge Jacqueline Grant sentenced 41-year-old Jessica Barnes Ferland to 125 to 157 months in state prison for the 2024 killing of her boyfriend, Jaquan Devaughen Bowen, authorities announced. The sentence follows Ferland’s guilty plea to one count of second-degree murder, down from an original charge of first-degree murder.
According to a news release from the Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office, the plea deal was reached after consultation with Bowen’s family.
The shooting occurred shortly after midnight on Oct. 3, 2024, in the 100 block of Laurel Loop in West Asheville. Officers with the Asheville Police Department responded to reports of a shooting around 12:34 a.m. and found Bowen suffering from a gunshot wound to the side of his head.
When officers entered the home, Ferland — identified as Bowen’s girlfriend — was holding paper towels to his head in an attempt to stop the bleeding, police said. Officers began lifesaving efforts before medics rushed Bowen to Mission Hospital with life-threatening injuries. He died the following day.
Investigators determined that Ferland and Bowen had been drinking and arguing just before the shooting. Prosecutors said the dispute centered on an affidavit Bowen had written in support of Ferland’s ex-husband in an ongoing custody case involving her children. The affidavit questioned Ferland’s parenting, according to authorities.
Prosecutors say Ferland retrieved a .22-caliber revolver during the argument and pointed it at Bowen’s head in an effort to intimidate him. She pulled the trigger, but the gun initially dry-fired. Bowen reportedly shrugged in response. Enraged, Ferland pulled the trigger a second time, and the gun discharged, striking Bowen in the temple.
After the shooting, Ferland called 911 and remained at the scene until police arrived. During a post-Miranda interview, she told detectives the shooting was accidental and insisted she did not intend to kill Bowen. Ferland said she only wanted him to take her seriously and understand her distress over losing custody of her children.
Her defense attorney argued that Ferland believed the revolver was not loaded when she pulled the trigger, a claim noted in reporting by the Citizen Times.
Ultimately, prosecutors said the facts of the case supported a conviction for second-degree murder. Judge Grant’s sentence ensures Ferland will spend more than a decade in prison for the killing, bringing a measure of legal closure to a case rooted in a bitter custody dispute that turned deadly.
