Anita McNeil, battling cancer, wants her husband released.
For seven years, Anita McNeil has tried to move on from what she calls "the incident" — that day in December 2005 when her husband shot and killed a man who threatened him outside their home in Georgia.
John McNeil was jailed and eventually convicted of murder; she moved back to the North Carolina town where the high school lovers grew up, unable to cope with the memories that haunted her. Now, she's fighting breast cancer that has spread to her bones and hopes a judge's ruling could set her husband free.
Georgia has a so-called stand your ground law on the books that allows people to use deadly force if their lives are in danger. But John McNeil was charged anyway, nine months after the shooting. The case has prompted calls from the NAACP and other groups for such laws to apply to all citizens, regardless of race. McNeil is black, and the man he shot was white. But white neighbors also testified about being intimidated by the man, who built their houses.
"We're standing strong, not only for John but also for any homeowner who should have the right to protect himself and any parents who should have the right to protect their child," Anita McNeil said in an interview at a friend's home.
A Georgia judge ruled last month in favor of a request to release John McNeil, who's serving a life sentence for the 2005 killing of Brian Epp, who had built what the McNeils believed was their dream home.
John McNeil, now 46, wasn't charged immediately. Police said he was defending himself, his home and his son, La'Ron, who called his father after seeing Epp in the backyard. The Cobb County prosecutor eventually pursued charges, leading to McNeil's conviction.
The ruling gave Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens 30 days to decide whether to appeal to Georgia's Supreme Court. Otherwise, McNeil could be released by the end of October. The office of Cobb County District Attorney Pat Head referred questions to Olens, whose office declined comment. Epp's widow also didn't return a phone call.
In May, Head told The Associated Press that the case is a reminder of the potential pitfalls of self-defense arguments.
"Just because someone hits you in the face doesn't mean you pull a .45 and shoot him in the head," he said. "It can be hard to prove it's self-defense, because the jury puts themselves in the same footing as anybody else."
The "stand your ground" law that advocates say should protect McNeil is similar to a law cited by authorities who initially declined to charge neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, who was unarmed. Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, told police he shot Martin, who was black, in self-defense during a scuffle. The decision by police not to charge him sparked protests across the nation. Prosecutors ultimately charged him with second-degree murder; Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty.
