For nearly a decade, Tammy and Rickey Keel's home in Woodville, Ala., was a battleground of domestic violence.
They lived a tumultuous nine years in a their mobile home located several hundred yards off of County Road 8, just outside of town, according to court records.
The pretrial hearing held Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 before Jackson County, Ala., Circuit Court Judge John Graham was on a defense motion to dismiss murder charges based on Tammy Keel's claim of self-defense, records show.
Tammy Keel, 47 at the time of her arrest, was charged by Jackson County Sheriff's Office deputies with the slaying of her 53-year-old husband Rickey Keel, whose body was found under a burned vehicle at the couple's home on March 16, 2016.
She testified in the hearing before Graham, offering multiple records, court orders, abuse reports and photographs illustrating the abusive relationship between her and her husband.
They separated and got back together. Restraining orders were issued and lifted when the couple reconciled. Tammy Keel testified that most of the last months prior to the slaying she spent with her family in Indiana.
Photos of her injuries were presented in court, some taken by jail staff after her arrest, showing a number of injuries.
"The court believes Tammy Keel's testimony on this issue," Judge Graham wrote.
On the day of the killing, Rickey Keel left the home on two occasions but returned, had been drinking alcohol throughout the day and had taken as many as 12 Lortab pills, and had continued to be physically and verbally abusive, records state.
Finally, that night at the mobile home, "[s]he stood near the bottom of a ramp leading into the rear entrance to their mobile home, Mr. Keel approached her telling her he would kill her," the judge wrote of the defendant's testimony. "She said he was holding a softball-sized chert rock in hand, holding it over his head and charging at her with the rock."
Tammy Keel said her husband was baring his teeth and growling like an animal and told her he "would put her in a hole" and that "nobody will ever see [her] again." She testified that at this point she felt it was "me or him."
She drew her pistol and fired it four or five times "till he stopped coming at me," the judge wrote of her account. Rickey Keel fell to the ground and died.
"If this was all [Tammy Keel] had done or if she had immediately summoned law enforcement the court would likely have never heard of the events of this tragic day and night," Graham wrote. "Rather than do the commonsensical thing, however, Mrs. Keel engaged in some of the most bizarre behavior of which the court has ever heard."
Although Tammy Keel contended she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder because of the years of ongoing abuse, there was no expert testimony offered by the defense. Graham said he was "sympathetic" to her claims of having the disorder but a description of her actions after the killing began to change the judge's mind.
Graham wrote that Tammy Keel testified that after Rickey Keel was dead, she removed a tow strap from a sport utility vehicle, tied that strap around the man's lower legs, attached the other end of the rope to the vehicle and dragged him some 290 feet around to the other side of the home, records state.
At some point, the SUV became lodged on top of the body and couldn't be moved. Tammy Keel abandoned the SUV and went home to bed. Graham wrote that her behavior could not be explained.
Tammy Keel called 911 the next day to report that her husband's vehicle was burned, that he was missing and that it appeared someone was under the burned vehicle, Graham wrote.
A video dated April 12, 2016, and recorded by Tammy Keel became another turning point for Graham.
"[T]he video shows [Tammy Keel] attempting to goad Mr. Keel into an argument and shows her provoking him over and over," Graham wrote. The video does not show "Mr. Keel taking the bait."
In the video, Rickey Keel "does not become the violent and dangerous man portrayed by Mrs. Keel," he wrote.
"The other prominent impression left by the video is the striking difference between the Tammy Keel in the video and the Tammy Keel the court saw in the courtroom and on the witness stand," Graham wrote, noting she could barely be heard when speaking in the courtroom.
"The video, however, portrays a different Mrs. Keel," Graham wrote. "In the video she is loud, rude, brash, vulgar, ill-spoken, heavily-accented and combative, and a completely different woman."
Graham said he believed her story of abuse was "most probably truthful" . "but the video and her 911 call are the strongest evidence this court saw against Mrs. Keel."
Graham denied the motion for dismissal and ordered the case set for a trial by jury, in a decision he said was made "by the very narrowest of thin margins."
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.