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| Vennie Leroy Keaton |
A 39 year old man charged with capital murder in the 2012
slaying of a co-worker at Gadsden State Community College-Cherokee has been
sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Vennie Leroy Keaton,
pleaded guilty to capital murder in the death of Melissa Leann Hudgins,
according to a news release from Cherokee County District Attorney Michael
O'Dell.
Keaton was indicted last summer for capital murder,
first-degree theft and promoting prison contraband.
He pleaded guilty last month to capital murder, but state
law requires a presentation of evidence in front of a judge before a defendant
can plead guilty to a charge of capital murder.
Circuit Judge Jeremy Taylor sentenced Keaton to life without
parole after investigators presented evidence before a Cherokee County Jury.
Keaton was arrested Nov. 30, 2012, in the death of
32-year-old Melissa Hudgins, and the theft of her car. Hudgins' body was found
Nov. 28 in a mechanical room under the bleachers at the Cherokee campus of
Gadsden State Community College, where both worked as contract janitorial
employees.
Keaton drove away from the college in Hudgins' car the day
before she was found. He left the car abandoned along the highway in Sequatchie
County, Tenn., and was arrested three days later in Cookeville, Tenn., by the
U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force.
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