Son-in-law faces murder charge in Saraland slaying

A Mobile County man accused of killing his

father-in-law, an Army veteran, has been arrested on 15 felony charges in the last four years, court records show, and had only recently been paroled after serving a fraction of his sentence.

Police have signed a murder warrant against John Lamar Pope, 31, of Kushla, in connection with the slaying of 57-year-old Anthony Embley Sr., of Saraland, who was found dead Oct. 21 in the hallway of his home.

Pope, having previously been arrested on a probation violation in Baldwin County, was already in custody when Saraland police signed the warrant. He was being held in the Baldwin County Corrections Center on Monday afternoon awaiting transfer to Mobile County to face the murder charge.

Pope and his common-law wife, Lacy Embley, were arrested in 2005 in connection with a string of commercial burglaries in Mobile and Baldwin counties, according to court records and police accounts at the time.

A month later, still on bail for the burglaries, the couple was arrested again, this time on theft charges. Police accused them of stealing money from cash registers at Bel Air Mall.

Pope pleaded guilty to three counts of third-degree burglary in Mobile and one count of third-degree burglary in Bay Minette. The other charges, which included possession of a controlled substance and theft, were dropped as part of plea agreements, court records show.

Lacy Embley pleaded guilty to three charges but was not sentenced to any prison time.

Pope was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but served only about three behind bars, according to Brian Corbett, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections.

He was paroled in January 2008, according to Corbett, but was rearrested four months later in Washington County on charges of third-degree burglary and first-degree theft of property.

Despite the new charges, Pope's parole was reinstated in August 2008, Corbett said.

The cases remain open in Washington County Circuit Court, where he is scheduled to go to trial Nov. 11.

Saraland Police Chief Kevin Anderson released no further details about Embley's death. Anderson would not say how Embley was killed, how long he'd been dead before police found him or what possible motive led to his death.

Anderson also declined to say whether police believe Pope acted alone.

Police found Embley in his Williams Avenue home after co-workers told authorities that he hadn't shown up for work.

An Alabama National Guardsman, Embley worked as a Black Hawk helicopter mechanic in Hope Hull, just south of Montgomery, and at Brookley Industrial Complex, according to the Alabama National Guard.