Denie and Pam Tucker
August 16, 2016
Murder defendant will testify against Decatur man
One of two men with Decatur ties charged with capital murder in the 2015 killing of a Marshall County couple has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the other.
Henry Martin Pyle, 54, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to the lesser charge of murder in the deaths of Denie and Pam Tucker, whose bodies were found in their Asbury home Sept. 11, court records show.
As a condition of the plea, which was reached Monday, Pyle agreed to testify against Jeffrey Lee McKelvey, 46, of Decatur, who is facing the death penalty, court records show. Authorities have said Pyle has ties to Decatur, but he told court officials he is homeless.
“This certainly changes the whole landscape of the case having somebody that says they’re going to testify against my client,” said McKelvey’s defense attorney, Jake Watson, of Huntsville.
Prosecutors have said a fingerprint found on a glass storm door placed McKelvey in the Tucker home about the time of the killings.
At an earlier court hearing, investigators said McKelvey had approached the Tuckers at the Cracker Barrel in Cullman with a story his daughter had been in a wreck and he’d left his wallet at home. Denie Tucker gave him $60 and his address so he could repay the money, investigators said.
McKelvey and Pyle were accused of later going to the Tucker home and robbing and killing the couple.
“McKelvey maintains that he’s innocent of the capital murder charges and that Pyle doesn’t have any credibility and is just trying to save his own skin,” Watson said. “He also maintains that certainly the victims were very good people and well thought of in the community.”
A friend of the victims, Russell Tucker, who is not related to the couple, said he is glad some justice has been served in the case.
“I’m glad at least (Pyle) is going to do a life sentence,” Tucker said. “I hope the other guy gets the death penalty.”
Denie and Pam Tucker, who owned Tucker Milling LLC, a company that makes animal feed, also were involved with the local organization of the National Barrel Horse Association.
“Me and Denie and Pam were real good friends, and they both were real good people,” Russell Tucker said. “They were just trying to help somebody and got killed. If anybody was down or had a problem, Denie and Pam were always willing to help any way they could.”
McKelvey has a long history of encounters with law enforcement, beginning in 1986 in Limestone County with charges of second-degree burglary and forgery. He was charged with third-degree burglary in Morgan County in 1989. In 1990, he was charged with first-degree burglary and marijuana possession, and in 1991 with theft.
In June, he was ordered to pay $25 per month in restitution for a 1991 burglary for which he was charged as a habitual offender. He was sentenced to 21 years for the crime, which police said involved stealing office and kitchen supplies and checks from a Decatur Masonic lodge and from an insurance agency.
McKelvey was arrested in 1990 trying to cash one of the stolen checks, according to police, while out of jail on bond for other crimes.
Pyle has been convicted of three prior felonies in Jackson and Madison counties, including theft and possession of a controlled substance.
His plea agreement on the murder deal lists him as a habitual offender.
Although only two people were killed, McKelvey is charged with five counts of capital murder. Two counts are for each victim’s death during a burglary and two counts are for each killing during a robbery. An additional count is for the deaths of two or more people during one crime spree.
Watson said the plea deal could speed up the trial process for McKelvey.
“It should at least make it easier to get the case to trial, but there’s still a lot of work that has to be done since they’re seeking the death penalty,” Watson said. “We’re really just getting started.”
McKelvey is being held in Marshall County Jail without bail.
If convicted, the minimum sentence McKelvey faces is life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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