Sonya H. Taton, 47, a Juneau resident convicted of murdering one boyfriend with a fillet knife in 2019 and stabbing another with a knife in 2016, was sentenced Friday to 50 years in prison, according to state officials.
Taton was convicted of five counts, including second-degree murder and first-degree assault, in a trial that concluded Nov. 17, 2023. She was sentenced in Juneau by Superior Court Judge Phillip Pallenberg, who “found no mitigating factors,” according to a press release issued Monday by the Alaska Department of Law.
“Judge Pallenberg noted Taton’s lengthy criminal history and found, ‘Ms. Taton is an enormously dangerous woman,’” the release states. “He determined Taton to have minimal prospects for rehabilitation and gave significant weight to the factor of isolating her from the community. He found several aggravating factors including that these were crimes of domestic violence.”
The fatal stabbing of Gregory Bowen occurred June 17, 2019, in his home in Channel View Terrace Mobile Home Park. He was medevaced to a Seattle hospital where he died 12 days later. Taton admitted she stabbed Bowen, but claimed it was self-defense.
Taton was also convicted of stabbing then-boyfriend Michael Garrison on Feb. 13, 2016, which she claimed was an accident.
The sentence imposed Friday is for 60 years with 20 years suspended, and thus 40 years to serve for the murder of Bowen, according to the Department of Law. In addition, she must serve a consecutive 10 years for the assault of Garrison, resulting in the 50-year composite sentence.
Taton is eligible for discretionary, medical and mandatory parole — although when is not a simple determination, according to Patty Sullivan, a Department of Law spokesperson.
In an email Monday, Sullivan noted state law “sets forth a complex set of rules for determining when a criminal defendant is eligible for discretionary parole…(and) sets forth several conditions that must be met in order for a defendant, like Ms. Taton, to be considered for medical parole.”
“Finally, mandatory parole presumes a defendant will not forfeit good-time credit due to disciplinary infractions and, generally, mandatory parole requires release after serving two-thirds of the total composite sentence,” Sullivan wrote. That time could be at just over 33 years from Ms. Taton’s arrest for stabbing Gregory Bowen on 06-17-2019.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
