Walden Embrey testifies about "indiscretions"
photo by Jessica Kramer
Demonica Lynn Embrey’s bond was lowered on Thursday after her husband, shooting victim Walden G. Embrey, testified in court.
Mr. Embrey, appearing in Judge Barry Steelman’s courtroom, said he had revealed new “indiscretions” to his wife about 20 minutes prior to her shooting him on April 16.
Mr. Embrey said he had been staying at a hotel because he and his wife had been having marital problems. He said his wife had discovered some compromising photographs and videos and was “aware of (his) indiscretions” about a month prior to the shooting.
He said he went back to his residence at Cool Ridge Drive on April 16 to talk to his wife. He said they had a “good exchange of information” but that “she was obviously hurt.”
When asked if about 20 minutes prior to the shooting Mr. Embrey had shown his wife “a string of messages from his failing,” he said that he remembered her asking to see his phone. Mr. Embrey said he went into an upstairs bedroom to get some belongings and his wife entered the bedroom holding his pistol.
“She threatened me with it,” he said. “She told me to get on my knees.”
Mr. Embrey said that his wife looked different than normal at that time.
“She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t visibly shaken that I could tell,” he said.
When asked if his wife was angry, Mr. Embrey began to laugh, “She had a gun pointed at me. I’m gonna say ‘yes’ to that.”
Mr. Embrey said he started walking and, as he was going down the stairs, his wife hit him in the back of the head with his pistol. He said she fired four shots as he tried to get out of the house and to his truck. He said one of the shots hit him in the upper right arm and another hit the tire of his truck.
Judge Steelman asked if Mr. Embrey thought his wife would be “a threat to anyone else in the community at large.”
“No, she wouldn’t,” said Mr. Embrey. “She was mad at me. She’s not mad at anyone else in the community.”
“Are you concerned that she’s still a threat to you,” asked Judge Steelman.
“I don’t wanna think so,” said Mr. Embrey. “That’s the best I can answer that.”
Antoynette Rice, a friend of Ms. Embrey’s since childhood, said, "(Ms. Embrey) is the nicest person I’ve ever met in my life. She’s just been a jewel to my family.”
Ms. Rice said that if Ms. Embrey makes bond, she would be welcome in her home “as long as she needed.”
Ms. Embrey said she had filed for a divorce before her incarceration, but had put it in “reconciliation mode.” She said since she has been incarcerated, she has reactivated it.
When defense attorney Brandy Spurgin asked how the court could be sure that Ms. Embrey would stay in Chattanooga until the case was resolved, Ms. Embrey said, “If I could stay in the Navy for over 21 years, I think I could stay in Chattanooga for a couple.”
Attorney Spurgin said, “There’s certainly an argument that culpability may be reduced in this case.”
She said she hoped the bond, currently set at $100,000, could be reduced to something more reasonable. The judge cut it in half to $50,000.