Etowah County woman to face trial on Capital Murder Charges

Margie Morgan Kelley

The Alabama Supreme Court has issued a ruling which will result in Margie Morgan Kelley facing  capital murder charges in connection with the 2009 murder of her father and cousin .

Kelley pleaded guilty in to hindering prosecution and abuse of a corpse in the case in 2011, while her husband, Robert Wayne Kelley, pleaded guilty to capital murder charges in the deaths of 55 year old Rocky Morgan, and 38 year old James Bachelor, and was sentenced to 110 years in prison. As part of his plea agreement, the Alabama Supreme Court ruling states, Kelley implicated his wife in the murders.

The district attorney’s office obtained indictments against Margie Kelley for the murders in March 2013. Her attorneys argued trying her for murder after her plea on the related charges would be double jeopardy. After Presiding Circuit Judge Allen Millican denied a motion to bar prosecution, her lawyers took that argument to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. That court ruled in her favor, blocking her trial on capital murder charges.

Etowah County District Attorney Jimmie Harp said he never believed her guilty plea on the hindering prosecution charge should have impeded the capital murder charge after his office received the information that led to the indictment. His office challenged the appellate court ruling to the Alabama Supreme Court, which ruled that Margie Kelley pleaded guilty to hindering the prosecution of her husband — which “does not contemplate or address whether the accused also participated in the underlying criminal conduct.”