HARTSELLE, Ala. (WHNT) — A 62-year-old Hartselle woman pleaded guilty last month to a lesser charge of manslaughter in connection to the shooting death of a Decatur man after claiming the incident was the result of domestic violence.

Mary Evelyn Hamm was charged with murder when she was arrested on October 16, 2020, for the death of 54-year-old Bruce Everett Cox. The incident happened at Hamm’s home in the Flint community.

The Decatur Police Department went to a home on Sage Private Drive in Hartselle, in response to a possible shooting that happened in their jurisdiction.

According to an affidavit filed at that time, Hamm made “spontaneous utterances” to arriving officers that she shot Cox in the side of his head, saying she was “tired of him attacking her.”

Cox was taken to the hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

In a search warrant affidavit, Detective Jackson wrote that Hamm called 911 and “reported that she shot her boyfriend in his head.” Jackson added that Hamm told dispatchers that she “no longer had the firearm, but had placed it somewhere and she didn’t know where it was.”

That search warrant also included that a search of Hamm’s house found two 9mm handguns, a .22-caliber revolver, several bags of what was referred to as a “green leafy substance” and two cell phones.

While Hamm was being transported to the Decatur Police Department to be interviewed, court records said she “voluntarily” told Detective Mukaddam, prior to being read her Miranda rights, that she shot Cox because “he came at her and she was tired of him beating on her.”

After Mukaddam read Hamm her Miranda rights, she asked for an attorney.

Mukaddam wrote in the affidavit that there weren’t any visible injuries on Hamm or on Cox, adding, “At this time, there is no evidence to support Cox attacked Hamm prior to the shooting.”

Hamm was booked into the Morgan County Jail on a $100,000 bond. A Morgan County grand jury indicted Hamm on March 1, 2022.

Court records show Hamm agreed to a deal to plead guilty to manslaughter, a lesser charge than manslaughter, a Class B felony.

Morgan County Circuit Judge Jennifer Howell sentenced Hamm on Feb. 27, when her trial had been scheduled to start, to 15 years in prison, with credit for time served. Hamm has remained incarcerated since her initial arrest, serving two years and four months for the time she has been in Morgan County Jail.