KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — UPDATE FRIDAY: A Knox County jury has convicted a 50-year-old man of second-degree murder in the 2022 killing of his sometime girlfriend.
Charles Raymond "Ray" Locke Jr. of Knox County will be sentenced June 20 by Knox County Criminal Court Judge Steve Sword. Punishment for second-degree murder carries a range of 15 to 60 years in prison, depending on the defendant's criminal record.
Locke was indicted for first-degree murder in the January 2022 killing of Vicki Terry.
Jurors had the option of picking the lesser included count of second-degree murder.
Locke killed Terry in her Wilson Avenue home.
She'd been beaten and strangled, and an autopsy showed numerous bruises and cuts on her body and face. Locke told investigators numerous stories about what happened, including that she'd fallen repeatedly and that they'd quarreled.
PREVIOUS STORY: A Knox County man is on trial this week in the 2022 violent beating of his sometime girlfriend.
Charles Raymond "Ray" Locke Jr., 50, is accused of first-degree murder in the January 2022 death of Vicki Terry, 61.
A friend who stopped by to check on Terry found her dying from a savage beating on the floor of her Wilson Avenue home, according to authorities. Locke was at the squalid house at the time and let the friend in, saying she'd been injured falling in the bathroom.
Defense attorney D.T. Christmas told jurors Terry had been in poor health and died after suffering injuries in a fall. She bruised easily because of her health, Christmas said, explaining bruises and injuries found on her body.
Veteran prosecutor Leland Price, however, said Terry's injuries were intentionally inflicted. She also appeared to have been strangled.
Locke told Knox County investigators he and Terry had argued and that he'd thrown things at her. He also said he'd dragged her out of the shower, records state.
Christmas, however, told jurors when they reviewed Locke's statement to investigators they'd discover that he was "not a sophisticated man" and had a tendency to get wound up.
"Mr. Locke has a certain way about him," he told jurors in his opening statement.
