An Alabama man convicted of killing his former wife at her business the day after their divorce became final has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

A Morgan County judge handed down the penalty to Roger Dale Stevens, 68, during a hearing Wednesday, the Decatur Daily reported.

Stevens was convicted of capital murder last month in the death of Kay Letson Stevens, 64. She was shot to death outside her bakery in Decatur in November 2015.

The couple’s divorce had become final the day before the killing, and witness Brenda Suggs, who was Stevens’ sister and business partner, testified earlier that the man complained that his former wife got everything in the split. Stevens shot the woman and then beat her head against a curb, evidence showed.

Speaking by Zoom from Rhode Island, Angela Stevens, the couple’s daughter, told the court she has been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder since the shooting and has nightmares almost every night.

Angela Stevens said that she lost both her mother and father the day of the shooting.
“I can never understand why my father did what he did,” she said. “But, I forgive him.”