Anita McNeil spent the last years of her life fighting two battles: one against breast cancer and the other trying to secure her husband’s freedom. Both battles ended this month, January 2013, when she died.
John McNeil is serving a life sentence for felony murder and aggravated assault—a sentence his wife and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) have fought for years.
On December 6, 2005, during a shouting match, John McNeil shot Brian Epp, the builder of his Kennesaw, Georgia, home. Epp died and McNeil was not charged; police said he acted in self-defense.
McNeil, his wife, and the NAACP maintain that the shooting happened when Epp came at McNeil with a knife. The police initially agreed with this scenario. Then, nine months later, prosecutors charged him with Epp’s murder. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2006.
The Cobb County Court murder conviction has sparked controversy ever since it came down. In August 2011, the NAACP joined Anita McNeil in her fight to absolve her husband. The organization’s leaders led a rally in Marietta, Georgia, saying that McNeil acted in self-defense and should not be serving a life sentence. The NAACP urged officials to re-examine the case.
This rally took place shortly after the Georgia Supreme Court turned down McNeil’s appeal, with one justice dissenting.
Anita McNeil never gave up on her quest to clear her husband. At a news conference last October, she told reporters, “I stand here today, because John is not a murderer. He is a homeowner. He is a homeowner that lost his right to protect his home, his child. He is an American who lost the right to protect himself on his own property.”
As an Alpharetta criminal defense attorney, I have been following this story closely. I offer my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Anita McNeil who have suffered such a big loss.
