Domestic shooting bound over to grand jury

A Houston County judge found sufficient evidence that a 63-year-old Dothan woman shot her husband after she apparently found him with another woman.

District Court Judge Lori Collier Ingram forwarded the criminal case filed against Mable Washam to a grand jury for consideration of an indictment.

Dothan police arrested Washam in July and charged her with felony first-degree domestic violence. Washam was released from custody after she posted a $30,000 bond. Police charged Washam with using a .32-caliber pistol to shoot Early Washam in the stomach at his home in the 1100 block of Alpine Lane on July 12.

Dothan Police Investigator Keith Cook said Washam went to the home, and after she saw another woman inside she went back to her car to get her pistol. Cook said Washam apparently told an officer shortly after the shooting she shot her husband.

During cross examination by Thomas Thrasher, who represented Washam, Cook said the other woman inside the home called 911 to report the shooting.

Early Washam said he asked Mable Washam to leave his home several times, and only let her inside after she had asked to use the bathroom. As she returned from the bathroom he said she fired one time, striking him in the stomach. Early Washam said the shooting left him hospitalized for about a week at the critical care unit at Southeast Alabama Medical Center.

“The surgeon said the bullet went through my colon and my liver,” Early Washam said.

Washam said he still suffers pain from the gunshot wound. He said the bullet remains lodged in his back. Washam said he filed for divorce from Mable Washam shortly after the shooting. Washam said he and the other woman were only friends, and she had been cooking him dinner at the time of the shooting.

During cross examination by Thrasher, Early Washam said he owned a gun and cell phone at the time of the shooting, but was not armed.

Thrasher argued for the charge to be dismissed because there was no evidence Early Washam suffered serious injury during the shooting.

District Attorney Doug Valeska argued the victim spent a week in the hospital, and that the extent of injury was an issue for the jury to determine.

Mable Washam faces 10 to 99 years or life in prison if convicted of the class A felony of first-degree domestic violence.