Betty Jean Owens (born 1940) is an African American woman who was brutally raped by four white men in Tallahassee, Florida in 1959. Her trial was significant in Florida, and the South as a whole, because the white men were given life sentences for their crimes. Prior to Owens' case, sentences of this severity had not been imposed in the South on white men accused of raping black women. For example, in the case of Recy Taylor, who was gang-raped by six white men in Alabama, the men were never found guilty of any charges and released from jail with minimal fines. The attack On May 2, 1959, four white men, William Collinsworth, Ollie Stoutamire, Patrick Scarborough, and David Beagles, set out together to find a woman to sexually assault. They approached a car at Jake Gaither Park armed with shotguns and switchblades. Patrick Scarborough pressed his shotgun against the African American driver's nose and ordered the occupants out of the car. Four African Americans stepped out of the car, two men and two women. All four people in the car were students at Florida A&M University (FAMU). Scarborough forced the two black men to kneel on the ground, and David Beagles held the two black women at knifepoint. Scarborough ordered the black men, Richard Brown and Thomas Butterfield, to leave and they slowly drove away. The two black women left at the hands of the four white men were Edna Richardson and Betty Jean Owens. Edna Richardson broke free of the men and ran into a nearby park, leaving Betty Jean Owens alone with her attackers. Beagles promised to release her only if she did what they wanted her to do. They drove her to the edge of town and subsequently raped her seven times. Edna Richardson and the other two male students were able to make it back to their car and went to the local police station to report what had happened to them. The officer on duty that night was a nineteen-year-old intern, Joseph D. Cooke, Jr. To the surprise of many people, he called for back up and searched for Owens. The officer spotted the assailant's car and a chase ensued. Eventually, the men pulled their car over and the muffled screams of Owens could be heard from the car. She was bound and gagged on the backseat floorboard. The four men were then arrested