ROCHESTER, Minn. (Court TV) — The case against a doctor accused of poisoning his wife to death is moving forward after a Minnesota judge refused to dismiss the indictment against him.
Dr. Connor Bowman is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, who was poisoned. (Rochester Police Department via Scripps News)
Connor Bowman, 33, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and second-degree murder in the death of his wife, Betty Bowman, 32. Connor Bowman, a doctor, worked as a pharmaceutical resident at the Mayo Clinic before his arrest, and his wife was a pharmacist there.
In a motion to dismiss the case against him, Connor Bowman’s defense raised several concerns about the grand jury, alleging that inappropriate comments and evidence were presented to the panel, amounting to prosecutorial misconduct.
The motion argued, in part, that Judge Pamela King had improperly presided over the grand jury hearings after she had previously been removed from the case. In an order denying the motion to dismiss in full, Judge Kathy Wallace noted that both sides agreed the judge had been removed before overseeing the grand jury, she noted that the judge’s role in grand jury proceedings is far more limited than in a trial or a more typical hearing. At a grand jury hearing, prosecutors act as the legal advisor to the grand jury, call and examine witnesses and write the indictment. A judge’s role is only to appoint a foreperson, swear the panel in and charge them by reading statutes and rules.
“Here, there is no prejudice suffered by Defendant and none of Defendant’s substantial rights were violated by Judge King presiding over the grand jury proceedings,” Wallace wrote. “The grand jury transcripts establish that Judge King was absent for almost the entirety of the grand jury proceedings.” She further found that King had no opportunity to exercise judicial discretion, heard no argument and made no decisions that could have altered the findings of the panel. “There is nothing to indicate that the outcome of the grand jury proceeding would have been different had another judge instructed the grand jury and selected a foreperson.”
Betty Bowman was hospitalized on Aug. 16, 2023, with symptoms that were initially attributed to food poisoning. Investigators said in a criminal complaint affidavit that she told a friend that she thought a smoothie she had the night before with Connor Bowman caused her to become sick. She died four days after she was admitted to the hospital. Her obituary says that she suffered a “sudden onset autoimmune and infectious illness,” a line that prosecutors said Connor Bowman made sure was included in the online tribute.
Prosecutors say the defendant was on the dating site Bumble before his wife’s death, where he told other women that he was a widower.
No trial date has been set.
