Life insurance award denied

ANCHORAGE — A woman who shot and killed her sleeping husband after three days of being tortured — at least part of the time while their children were present in the house — will receive no money from his life insurance policy, a judge has ruled.

Lisa Donlon shot and killed her husband, Jason Donlon, about 6:30 a.m., Oct. 7, 2010, after three days of physical and sexual abuse. Lisa Donlon and Theresa Cook, Jason’s mother, filed competing claims on Jason Donlon’s Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance benefit Nov. 3, 2010. Prudential Insurance paid out the claim to U.S. District Court, and asked a judge to decide who would receive the $361,423.49 plus accrued interest, according to court documents.

At the time of his death, Jason Donlon, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and Iraq war, was on leave without pay from the Alaska Army National Guard.

A finding of fact authored by District Court Judge H. Russel Holland lays out in explicit detail the rapes and beatings Jason Donlon is alleged to have perpetrated against his wife as a result of a text message exchange between Lisa Donlon and a coworker.

Lisa Donlon testified at trial that the couple’s relationship had been abusive from the time they married July 4, 1995, in Greeneville, South Carolina.

During much of the day, Oct. 4, 2010, Jason Donlon showed the sexually explicit text messages to numerous people, including their children, Lisa’s supervisor, and several managers at her workplace, and demanded that they punish or fire his wife. Supervisors refused, saying the matter occurred after work hours, according to court documents.

Between the discovery and the shooting, the abuse escalated, and may have involved poking her with sewing needles, whips, and a pulley system.

“Lisa’s testimony that Jason sprayed rubbing alcohol on Lisa’s breasts and endeavored to ignite it is undisputed,” Judge Holland wrote.

On Oct. 6, 2010, the family watched torture movie clips together on a computer, then went out to dinner together at Evangelo’s Restaurant, according to court documents.

“While at Evangelo’s Restaurant, both Jason and Lisa possessed concealed hand guns,” Holland wrote.

No one disputed the abuse, or the validity of Jason Donlon’s death threats, or Lisa Donlon’s peril at several points during the three days, according to Holland. For example, Laura Brown, a psychologist called by Lisa Donlon as a witness, testified to that effect. However, the credibility of those threats wasn’t the central question of the civil case, Holland ruled.

“The fact that Lisa believed, that Dr. Brown believed, and that this court believes that Lisa really believed Jason’s death threats does not by itself answer the critical question of whether or not Lisa’s shooting of Jason was wrongful,” he wrote.

Lisa Donlon had control of the situation when she shot and killed Jason Donlon, meaning the death was both wrongful and intentional, in term of federal civil code. Under federal code, the shooting was “wrongful and intentional,” which disqualifies Lisa Donlon from receiving a dime, Holland ruled.

“In the minutes, and probably several hours, prior to Jason’s death, Lisa was objectively in no immediate life-threatening danger,” he wrote. “Instead of slipping out of bed, finding Jason’s pistol and shooting him, Lisa could have slipped out of bed, taken Jason’s pistol (and her own), gone next door to Theresa’s house, and called the police, who no doubt would have responded.”

“Although Lisa subjectively saw the situation otherwise, to an objective observer, once Lisa had possession and control of Jason’s pistol, she was in a position to control the situation, even if her exiting the cabin had awakened Jason,” Russell wrote.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.