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Brother of Woman Convicted of Ex's Murder Takes Blame for the Crime: "Couldn't Take It Anymore"
Lucille Duncan’s then-14-year-old son later recanted his testimony, and now claims on Snapped: Behind Bars he was coerced into testifying against his mother and sending her to prison, alongside his uncle.
Lucille Duncan claimed she was in an abusive relationship. The 36-year-old alleged her boyfriend, 44-year-old James Pruitt, broke her nose, vandalized her car, kidnapped her, strangled her until she lost consciousness, and threatened to throw her into a river. But it was when he allegedly threatened her family that her brother took action — shooting and killing her then-ex.
“I hate that somebody died,” Lucille Duncan said in her first public interview with Snapped: Behind Bars, airing Sundays at 7/6c on Oxygen. “But I had nothing to do with it. And two wrongs don’t make a right. My brother is incarcerated. He fully accepts responsibility.”
More than two decades after Pruitt’s slaying, Lucille spoke from behind bars at the Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri. Her story first aired on Snapped Season 20 in June 2017. Her brother, Gerald Duncan, also shared his side of the story.
“My sister has been done really bad,” Gerald Duncan said on Snapped: Behind Bars. “She’s totally innocent. And it’s like my dad said. He was very traditional. He said, 'You look out for your little sister. You make sure she doesn’t get hurt. Anybody messes with her, you know, you take care of it.'”
Now, Lucille and Gerald Duncan are explaining why Lucille shouldn’t be in prison, and how her then-14-year-old son was threatened into testifying against his mother.
Lucille Duncan's Relationship with James Pruitt
In 2002, Lucille Duncan and James Pruitt began dating after they were set up by a friend.
“He was good-looking,” Jo Ann Duncan, Lucille’s mother, said on Snapped: Behind Bars. “And when he wanted to be charming, he was very charming. But when he got mad, he was very mad.”
Both Lucille and James struggled with sobriety.
“My father and Lucy together were toxic due to alcohol and drugs. Both,” said Holly Pruitt, James’ daughter, on Snapped: Behind Bars. “She would get drunk and like, call my dad numerous times on the telephone. Like, nonstop call. All hours of the night.”
Lucille claimed their tumultuous relationship often turned abusive — an allegation James’ children denied.
“Because of that lifestyle of drugs and alcohol, our relationship had many challenges,” Lucille said. “He was very focused on getting high. When he would get high and come down, and didn’t have anything, he would get violent. And that’s when the abuse started.”
After Lucille pressed charges against James for assault, the two broke up, and he was arrested and pled guilty. He was scheduled to be sentenced and taken into custody on July 11, 2003 — but he was murdered on July 4.
Lucille Duncan and Her Son's Account of James Pruitt's Murder
Around 7 a.m. on July 5, 2003, dispatchers in Boone County Missouri received a 911 call from a driver who discovered a bag of bloody clothes on a road. Police found the body of James Pruitt nearby in the woods. He’d been shot in the back of the head.
His ex-girlfriend, Lucille Duncan, admitted to police she, her brother Gerald Duncan, and her 14-year-old son, Jeremiah Robertson, had been with Pruitt the night he died, but denied knowing how it happened.
“I wanted us to end amicably. So, when he asked me for an opportunity to say goodbye to me and my children, I said yes,” Lucille said. “My brother is a Marine. He’s four years older than me. I knew Jim would not hurt me in front of my brother.”
When teenage Jeremiah was arrested, he told officers his uncle pulled a gun out on the drive home and shot Pruitt. He then alleged his uncle dumped Pruitt’s body in the woods. He claimed then, and now, that his mother had nothing to do with the murder.
“She was more freaked out than I was. And I was 14,” Jeremiah Robertson said on Snapped: Behind Bars. “Someone that knows something is going to happen is not going to be that freaked out about it. She was borderline hysterical. She didn’t do anything.”
Lucille later said her brother “went into military mode” and “didn’t think about it” when he shot Pruitt. She denied knowing what was going to happen.
“My brother said we would be arrested in the parking lot of the hospital,” Lucille said. “I didn’t know what to do. I was in shock. I never thought of covering up a crime. I never — I wasn’t thinking at all.”
What does Gerald Duncan say happened to James Pruitt?
Even after two decades, Gerald Duncan’s story about James Pruitt’s murder matches that of his sister’s.
“I think he wanted to kill my sister,” Gerald said. “You know, that’s why he wanted to meet with her alone. And she was smart enough to bring me along. My sister had told me that he threatened her kids and threatened our whole family. So I just had [a gun] on my person.”
Gerald claimed he heard the threats himself the night Pruitt was shot.
“Then, after a while, I heard him yelling at her,” Gerald said. “He said, ‘If I’m going to go to prison, I’m going to do something about it.’”
Gerald alleged Pruitt continued to threaten his family while in the car on the 4th of July, and something in him snapped.
“He said, ‘I’m going to get your family.’ So, I shot him,” Gerald said. “I couldn’t take it anymore. He stated flat out he was going to kill her family. Which I’m part of. So it’s my family too. It was a very real threat. It wasn’t planned ahead of time. It was a spontaneous event by one actor, which would be me.”
Jeremiah Robertson says he was threatened into testifying against his mother
Jeremiah Robertson was charged with concealing evidence and spent time at the juvenile justice center. Eventually, he made a statement against his mother.
“I was 14, but when I got certified as an adult, they did threaten me with life in prison,” Robertson said as to why he testified.
He claimed police and prosecutors took advantage of him.
“I was on about 12 different medications at the time,” Robertson said. “For ADD, ADHD, bipolar, manic depression. I was definitely in a fog. 'Zombified,' if you will.”
When Lucille found out her son could be facing prison time, she said she convinced him to testify against her.
“Even though it wasn’t true,” Lucille said. “Otherwise, he would go to prison for something he had nothing to do with either. There was no point in both of us going.”
Robertson pled guilty to tampering with evidence and was put on probation. His mother was charged with first-degree murder, and he testified against her.
“He didn’t look at me. But I looked at him,” Lucille said. “And my heart just went out to him. To be so young. To have his whole life ahead of him. And to have witnessed something so traumatic. I could do nothing but support him in what he was doing.”
On Feb. 26, 2004, Lucille Duncan was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Her brother, Gerald Duncan, took a plea deal and was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 2027.
Three years after the trial, Robertson recanted his testimony. Lucille has had several appeals denied but filed a petition for habeas corpus in March 2024. The family of James Pruitt hopes the appeal is denied.
“If Lucy got out of prison I’d be devastated,” Brandon Pruitt, James’ son, said on Snapped: Behind Bars. “I don’t think I can ever forgive her what she did.”
Watch all-new episodes of Snapped: Behind Bars on Sundays at 7/6c on Oxygen.
