Bio

Roy E. Keough was born on August 17, 1944. He was a Tennessee auto mechanic with a long history of violent crime before murdering his estranged wife in 1995. Keough had already been convicted of violent offenses before the Tennessee capital case. In 1974, he was convicted in Tennessee of assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter. In 1989, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Mississippi for the shooting death of a former brother-in-law. These convictions later became central to the death sentence because Tennessee prosecutors used them to prove that he had prior felony convictions involving violence.

Keough’s marriage to Betty Keough was described in court records as troubled and marked by arguments. They had separated before the killing. After the separation, Keough lived with his girlfriend for a time at the home of her brother, Bobby Holly. By December 1995, he had moved out, and another man, Kevin Berry, was staying at the residence.

Murder Story

On December 24, 1995, Betty Keough went several times to the home of Bobby Holly looking for Roy Keough. At around 11:30 a.m., she reportedly said she had a gun in her car and threatened to kill Keough and his girlfriend if she found them. She returned again around 3:00 p.m. and later that evening. At about 8:30 p.m., Betty asked Kevin Berry to join her for a drink at Irene’s Grill, a neighborhood bar on Jackson Avenue in Memphis.

After Betty and Berry left for the bar, Keough went to the Holly residence looking for Betty. Holly told him that Betty and Berry had gone to Irene’s Grill. Witnesses later said Keough appeared calm and did not appear intoxicated at that time. Keough then went to the bar, where Betty and Berry were seated at a table drinking beer.

Inside the bar, Keough and Betty began speaking loudly and appeared to argue. The owner asked them to leave. Keough, Betty, and Berry walked toward the back exit and into the parking lot. Berry testified that the argument continued outside and that Keough pushed Betty with both hands. When Berry stepped forward, Keough stabbed him in the chest with a bayonet or rifle knife. Berry tried to run, but Keough pursued him and stabbed him again in the thigh and back. Berry managed to escape into the bar, where others helped him and called police.

Police later found Betty Keough slumped over the steering wheel of her car in the parking lot. She had been stabbed in the upper chest. A forensic pathologist testified that the wound entered nearly six inches into her chest cavity and was consistent with a bayonet used with moderate force. She likely died within two to five minutes.

After the stabbing, Keough went to the home of Mary Stokes, the daughter of his girlfriend, Martha Stephenson. He told Stephenson that he had stabbed his wife and her boyfriend and had thrown the knife away. He also asked for money for gasoline. When money was not available, he said he would wait for police. When officers arrived, he was arrested.

Keough gave a statement to Detective James Nichols the next day. He admitted that he had gone looking for Betty, found her at the bar with another man, argued with them, and stabbed both Betty and Berry. He said his emotions were high and that he could not remember how many times or where he had stabbed them.

On May 9, 1997, a Shelby County jury convicted Keough of premeditated first-degree murder for Betty Keough’s death and attempted first-degree murder for the stabbing of Kevin Berry. During the sentencing phase, prosecutors introduced his prior violent felony convictions from 1974 and 1989. The jury found the prior-violent-felony aggravating circumstance and sentenced him to death. The trial court also imposed a consecutive 40-year sentence for the attempted murder conviction.

The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and death sentence on April 10, 2000. The court held that the evidence was sufficient to support premeditated first-degree murder and that the death sentence was not excessive or disproportionate compared with similar cases.

Keough later pursued postconviction relief. In 2010, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the denial of relief, rejecting arguments that his trial lawyers should have investigated more deeply into alcohol abuse, brain damage, and related issues. In 2011, the Tennessee Supreme Court remanded the case for a new postconviction hearing because of a procedural issue involving his right to testify under limited cross-examination rules.