Jan. 17—A jury trial scheduled to begin early this year for a woman charged with shooting and killing her boyfriend in Hartselle nearly four years ago was reset for September on Tuesday.
Kellie Monroe Hurley, 40, of Huntsville, was charged with murder in the June 20, 2021, shooting death of Demetres Orr, 38, of Hartselle. Hurley surrendered to the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office the next day and was released from jail on a $150,000 bond to await trial.
“Give him the gun, I’m already bleeding,” Orr told Hurley after shots were fired, according to a witness statement recorded in an investigator’s affidavit.
A Morgan County grand jury indicted Hurley in August 2022. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.
Hurley’s trial has been delayed several times. It was scheduled to begin on Jan. 27 but was reset after the trial date was incorrectly entered into the state’s online court system and the involved parties were therefore never notified, according to a judge’s order.
On Tuesday, Circuit Judge Charles Elliott reset Hurley’s trial for Sept. 15 at the request of Hurley’s retained attorney, John Mays. Mays did not immediately respond to inquiries on Thursday.
Morgan County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to 1221 Lane Road in Hartselle at around 2:21 a.m. on June 20, 2021, according to an investigator’s affidavit sworn later that day. The call was for a subject possibly having a seizure, but, when deputies arrived, they found Orr’s body propped against a car in the driveway.
EMS personnel, who were first on scene, told deputies that it appeared Orr had been shot several times and was deceased, according to the affidavit.
The homeowner “woke up to the sound of gunshots” and walked outside to see Hurley and Orr arguing, according to the affidavit, whereupon the homeowner heard Orr plead with Hurley to “give him the gun.”
The homeowner went inside the residence to put on clothes, and when he returned outside, Hurley was gone, according to the affidavit. The homeowner then called 911 at Orr’s request.
Investigators applied for a search warrant for Hurley’s vehicle the following day. The homeowner had described Hurley’s vehicle to investigators, according to the search warrant affidavit, and the vehicle was located over six hours after the shooting by Morgan County Coroner Jeff Chunn, who happened to notice the suspect vehicle in front of him while driving toward Decatur on U.S. 31.
Deputies and Decatur police stopped the vehicle to find that it was driven by the boyfriend of Hurley’s sister, who had been asked to retrieve the vehicle from Hartselle, according to the affidavit. The vehicle was taken into evidence.
According to the search warrant, Orr had suffered four gunshot wounds, and a purple Ruger LCP .380, along with spent .380 shell casings, were recovered from the scene of the shooting.
Demetres Orr’s brother, Walter Orr, previously told The Decatur Daily that the shooting occurred at their father’s home and that Demetres and Hurley were dating at the time. Walter Orr said his brother had a teenage son and stepdaughter.
— david.gambino@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438.