Dedra Pettus
In 1981, Allen was sharing an apartment with Dedra Pettus. On June 29, 1981, they got into an argument, and Allen shot and killed Dedra. In her 1981 confession, Allen stated that she accidentally shot Pettus from roughly 30 feet away while returning fire from Pettus's boyfriend. However, the forensic evidence was inconsistent with Allen's story; in particular, a police expert believed that bruises and powder burns on Pettus's body indicated that Allen had pistol-whipped her, then shot her at point-blank range. Nevertheless, prosecutors cut a deal with Allen, and she received a four-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea to a manslaughter charge. She served two years of the sentence.
Read more about this topic: Wanda Jean Allen