BARTOW — Sherri Fugate Gammons, who faced up to life in prison had she gone to trial this week for first-degree murder, has pleaded guilty to a lesser second-degree murder charge in exchange for a 35-year prison sentence.
Gammons, 47, was charged with fatally shooting her ex-husband, 56-year-old Aundra Gammons, whose body was found Aug. 26, 2015, in the yard of the home they shared in Alturas. An autopsy would show a single gunshot had pierced his heart and left lung, according to Polk County Sheriff’s Office reports.
Deputies reported that in the days and weeks leading up to Aundra Gammons’ death, his ex-wife had made several references to friends and family about killing him. In a conversation overheard by her nephew, John Fugate, Gammons told her ex-husband, “I should just kill you for the insurance money,” reports stated.
The couple was at their house at 4880 Hollingsworth Road, surrounded by groves in a secluded area of rural Alturas, the night Aundra Gammons was shot.
Gammons would tell her adult daughter, Aundrea, that her ex-husband had left the home that evening and never returned. When her daughter asked why she hadn’t notified friends or family that he was missing, Gammons had no response, according to deputies.
In the days following her ex-husband’s death, Gammons learned that he had named only his daughter as a beneficiary of the $25,000 life insurance policy he had through his employer, Putnam Groves. Gammons had asked her daughter if she would either split the money or give all of it to her, since Gammons understood she was the intended beneficiary, reports stated.
Fugate told detectives that Gammons contacted him after Aundra Gammons’ death asking if he could get her a lawyer because she wanted to sue her daughter for the insurance money, according to reports.
Court records show Gammons’ lawyers, Byron Hileman and Christopher Boldt of the state Office of Regional Conflict Counsel, initially intended to argue that Gammons suffered from battered-spouse syndrome and had acted in self-defense.
Last year, the lawyers also questioned Gammons’ competency. Gammons was examined by two mental health experts, and both found her competent to proceed. Circuit Judge Jalal Harb ruled in July that the case would move forward, court records show.
Suzie Schottelkotte can be reached at suzie.schottelkotte@theledger.com or 863-533-9070. Follow her on Twitter @southpolkscene.