Preliminary hearing held for couple accused of killing elderly pair

Thursday, January 6th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

EUFAULA, Okla. (AP) -- A Jan. 20 arraignment has been scheduled for a couple accused of fatally beating an elderly woman and her disabled husband. At a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, Harold McElmurry seemed to want to absorb the blame for the crime to help out the case of his wife, Vickie.

Defense Attorney Wes Gibson asked McIntosh County Associate District Judge Gene Mowery if McElmurry could testify "on her behalf." But that drew an immediate objection from McElmurry's lawyer and a denial of the request by Mowery, who said both must stand trial for the robbery and deaths of Vivian Pendley, 75, and Robert Pendley, 80.

The McElmurrys allegedly beat the Pendleys Aug. 2 at their home in Lenna, 10 miles west of Eufaula. Pendley, an 80-year-oldparaplegic and his wife had hired the McElmurrys in the past for yard work on their 80-acre grounds. Authorities say the McElmurrys confessed to stabbing and beating the Pendleys, then robbing their home and stealing their car to flee to Mexico.

The couple was arrested at a Laredo, Texas, border crossing as they tried to drive back into the United States. "He (McElmurry) had told her right from the start that he was going to exonerate her," Gibson said after the hearing. "He was willing to get on the stand today to say that she wasn't involved. Mrs.McElmurry admitted helping with the killings.

McElmurry's attorney, James Bowen, said McElmurry never told him that he wanted to testify on behalf of his wife but added that he realized that at some point that "defending these two people would become somewhat antagonistic." Texas Ranger Doyle Holdridge testified that McElmurry admitted to the crime readily. "This guy just came in and went belly-up before I could even start talking to him," Holdridge said. "He was kind of jumping up and down like a shortstop, saying, `I did it."'

Holdridge said there was a significant difference between a normal statement taken from McElmurry during interviews and the final written statement that he signed. "It seemed like he wanted to keep his wife out of the situation," Holdridge testified. "It was obvious to me that he was trying to take more of the blame."

The Pendleys' family members wept as Holdridge recounted McElmurry's statement, in which he said he stabbed Pendley with scissors several times -- knocking him out of his wheelchair --before bludgeoning him with a hoe and a steel pipe, Holdridge said McElmurry told him. Mrs. Pendley tried to flee, but she was stopped. McElmurry stabbed and beat her also, Holdridge said the defendant told him.