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Michael Walker has pled guilty to Capital Murder in regards to the 2019 murder of Troy resident Melissa Pelton, according to a statement from 12th Judicial Circuit District Attorney James Tarbox.

On Oct. 25, 2019, Walker was charged with Capital Murder following the death of Pelton. According to reports at the time, Troy Police responded to a report of a shooting at Poplar Hills Mobile Home Park in Troy on Oct. 24 and found Pelton, 30 at the time of her death, deceased in her home.

Walker was arrested shortly after the incident and charged with Capital Murder. Police said at the time that Walker was in a relationship with Pelton. According to Tarbox, the murder happened in the presence of Pelton’s six minor children. According to Alabama Law, a murder committed in the presence of the victim’s minor children can lead to a Capital Murder charge.

The State was represented by Assistant District Attorney Ternisha Jones in the case, who was also accompanied by Tarbox. In exchange for his guilty plea, the District Attorney’s office agreed to not seek the death penalty in the case. Walked was instead sentenced to Life without The Possibility of Parole in the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC).

“Walker will be transported to the Alabama Department of Corrections where he will begin his sentence and spend the rest of his life in custody,” Tarbox said. “The District Attorney’s Office believes this serious sentence is a proper and just outcome for this case given the violent and heinous nature of the offense committed by Walker. This outcome allows both for justice to be served and for the children who witnessed their mother being murdered from having to testify in open court about the terrible things they witnessed on the night of the murder.”