Madison woman found guilty of capital murder, sentenced

DECATUR – Defendant Jaclyn Elaine Skuce of Madison and her oldest daughter, sitting in the courtroom gallery, broke down in tears Friday morning after a Morgan County jury found Skuce guilty of arranging the 2020 murder of a Hartselle man who was the father of her youngest child.

“This job, we deal a lot with human misery,” Chief Assistant District Attorney Garrick Vickery said after the trial. “It’s not fun on any side to see anybody suffering. Ms. Skuce’s other daughter, her family, the Sheppards, who we are obviously close to. It’s not easy to deal with that every day, but it’s something that we have to do to the ends of justice. If we don’t, we’re not doing our job.”

Skuce, 43, was convicted of three counts of capital murder in the July 24, 2020, shooting death of Anthony Larry Sheppard, 41, and Circuit Judge Jennifer Howell sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of parole the same day. The only other available sentence after a capital murder conviction is death.

Skuce was arrested Sept. 2, 2020, and has been incarcerated at the Morgan County Jail without bond since then. Prosecutors argued Skuce had Sheppard killed during a custody dispute.

Skuce was represented by attorneys Catherine Phillips Carter, Anne Elisabeth Poe and Wendy Lopez, while Vickery and Assistant District Attorney Joe Lewis prosecuted the case.

After the trial, Vickery pointed to Skuce’s interview with FBI Special Agent Chris Hendon, which was played for the jury and included her confession that she hired Logan McKinley Delp of Huntsville to kill Sheppard. The defense argued Skuce hired Delp for protection, not as a hit man.

“This was Ms. Skuce’s intent all along: to murder Larry Sheppard through the use of essentially a hit man,” Vickery said.

Vickery said he believes the jurors followed Howell’s instructions that they were not being asked to decide whether Sheppard did what he was accused of, but whether Skuce intended to have him killed.

“I think they were a very thorough jury,” Vickery said.

During the trial, Skuce’s defense team called a Huntsville police lieutenant and a licensed professional counselor to testify about Skuce’s prior reports and her children’s disclosures alleging that Sheppard physically and sexually abused Skuce’s oldest daughter and son.

Huntsville police Lt. Michael Danley testified about letters Sheppard allegedly mailed to Skuce in 2019, including one in which Sheppard allegedly threatened to shoot Skuce, her children and himself, and another in which he allegedly threatened to sexually abuse their daughter.

Before Howell announced the sentence, Sheppard’s mother and two sisters read impact statements to Skuce, who stood at Howell’s bench with her three attorneys, their backs turned toward Sheppard’s family.

Dinah Sheppard approached the podium with a picture of her son holding his then-infant daughter, Ashley, who is also Skuce’s daughter. She displayed the same picture during her impact statement to Delp, who was convicted in October of two counts of capital murder for fatally shooting Sheppard and also sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Dinah Sheppard hesitated slightly before she began speaking.

“For almost six years, we have awaited justice for Larry,” she said. “Larry was shot multiple times. You knew exactly what you were doing and why you hired Logan Delp. Larry was left to die. Larry gave his life for Ashley. She lost everything: her dad, her mother, her sister and brother.”

Dinah Sheppard said Skuce and Larry Sheppard will both miss out on watching their daughter grow up.

“You won’t be there for your first grandchild, and neither will Larry,” she said.

Sheppard then displayed a purple T-shirt with Bible verses from the book of Proverbs written on it, saying the passage refers to things the Lord hates, including lying, shedding innocent blood, plotting evil and stirring up conflict.

Delp and three others drove from Huntsville to Hartselle, where Delp shot Sheppard five times with a 9mm pistol through the storm door of Sheppard’s home on Dawson Street Southwest, prosecutors said. The shooting happened the same day Sheppard was scheduled to appear in Limestone County District Court for a child custody hearing. Prosecutors alleged Skuce agreed to pay Delp $30,000 to kill Sheppard to prevent him from attending the hearing and gaining custody of Ashley after Skuce initially contacted Delp through a Facebook account.

Co-defendant Lajuhn Keith Smart Jr., also of Madison, pleaded guilty to felony murder in October and received a 20-year sentence. Smart, who admitted he was Delp’s getaway driver the morning Sheppard was killed, testified last week that he saw Skuce meet with Delp in his motel room and discuss killing Sheppard.

Vickery said Smart’s testimony was critical in tying the case together.

“He has connections to Skuce, he has connections to Delp, and he’s one of the only co-defendants that is situated that way,” Vickery said.

Court records show the trial for codefendant Aaron Carter “Pyro” Howard is set for June 3 in Howell’s courtroom. Vickery said the case of the other co-defendant, Angela Marie Stolz, will be dealt with after Howard’s trial concludes.