AnonymousSource: Santa Barbara County District Attorney
Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce E. Dudley announced [Wednesday] that 59 year old Donald Joseph Lowe was sentenced to 18 years and four months in state prison, followed by 25 years to life, after a Santa Barbara jury convicted him on October 8, 2020 of assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury, and possession of methamphetamine and heroin for purposes of sale. This is the only felony jury trial completed in the County of Santa Barbara since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March of 2020.
These crimes arose out of incidents occurring in 2018 at a homeless encampment near the Patterson off-ramp of southbound 101 freeway. Lowe, previously convicted in Los Angeles County for a 1981 murder, was granted parole in 2012. Shortly after his parole, he once again began committing serious crimes.
On an evening in mid-2018, he confronted a young man over a drug debt and stabbed him in the abdomen. As a result of the stabbing, the victim’s intestines were eviscerated, still he called out for help and a nearby good Samaritan bravely called 911, despite being told not to by others in the area of the stabbing. As a result of that 911 call, first responders were able to render aid to the stabbing victim and take him to Cottage Hospital where he underwent lifesaving surgery.
District Attorney Dudley commended the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department, local paramedics and the treating physicians from Cottage Hospital for helping solve this crime and saving a young man’s life. In addition, Dudley commented on the exceptional bravery of the 911 caller, as well as the surviving victim who testified as to the heinous stabbing. Finally, District Attorney Dudley enthusiastically appreciated the members of her staff, under the leadership of Supervising Deputy District Attorney Ben Ladinig for their hard work and professionalism throughout this arduous trial.
The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office would also like to acknowledge the Superior Court staff and the jurors who fulfilled their civic duty during this pandemic. Without such jurors, our legal system cannot work and victims of crimes cannot get justice.
