Duncan Sentenced to Combined 55 Years in Murder Case
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Duncan Sentenced to Combined 55 Years in Murder Case
Former Scott County law enforcement officer Tommy Ray Duncan appeared in a Scott County Criminal Court last week. Duncan, who had already been sentenced to 40 years in 2025, took a second plea in the death of his wife, April Duncan, in April 2022.
By Shane Gilreath
SCN Contributing Editor
[email protected]
A former law enforcement officer, Tommy Ray Duncan, 41, was sentenced Thursday to a total of 55 years in prison after entering a guilty plea in Scott County Criminal Court in the death probe of his wife, April Duncan, and a separate case of sexual abuse charges uncovered during the investigation; a charge which he had already pled guilty to in March 2025.
April Duncan, 34, died in January 2022 with her death initially being investigated as a suicide. Further review of the case, however, led authorities to pursue murder charges. Last Thursday, Duncan entered a best-interest plea to murder, resolving the case without trial.
At the time of his indictment for murder, Duncan was already jailed following a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) probe into sexual abuse allegations. That investigation was launched during the review of April Duncan’s death at the request of 8th Judicial District Attorney General Jared Effler.
In the earlier case, Duncan pled guilty to five of six charges related to continuous sexual abuse and rape of a child. One count was dismissed by the state. Under the plea agreement, Duncan received a 40-year sentence and Community Supervision for Life, a sentence option that is handed to a person who has violated Tennessee’s aggravated rape, rape, aggravated sexual battery, rape of a child, or attempted to violate Tennessee’s laws. That sentence was authorized in addition to the punishment by the court. At the time of the plea, the State’s recommendations were upheld and included a sentence of 30 years for Count 1, the Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child, age 6, a Class A Felony, and 10 years each – to be served concurrently, but consecutive to the first count – for the four additional counts, rape, a Class B Felony, in which the victim was aged 14 and 15.
On Thursday, Duncan also entered a plea as charged to rape in the second degree in connection with the case and a best-interest plea to the murder of his wife. In Tennessee, a best-interest plea allows a defendant to accept conviction and sentencing while acknowledging that the state’s evidence is sufficient to support a guilty verdict. The plea carries the same legal effect as a guilty plea and results in a conviction.
Scott County Criminal Court Judge Zachary Walden sentenced Duncan to 15 additional years for the murder charge. That sentence will be served concurrently with his existing 40-year sentence, resulting in a total effective sentence of 55 years.
“I firmly believe that the disposition entered in the Tommy Duncan case yesterday in Scott County Criminal Court was responsible given the defendant’s age, the length of sentence he was ordered to serve, along with the facts and circumstances of the case and applicable law,” Effler told SCN on Friday. “The victim’s family, victim and law enforcement were all consulted prior to the entry of this disposition and all parties agreed with the outcome.”
