Local

Cobb County Man Set Free After Previously Receiving Life Sentence

February 12th, 2013

A Cobb County man convicted of murder has been set free. John McNeil was sentenced in 2006 to life in prison for the 2005 shooting death of building company owner Brian Epp in McNeil’s Kennesaw yard.

For years, the NAACP and McNeil’s attorneys argued he was wrongfully convicted because they believed he acted in self-defense. In September, a Georgia Superior Court judge concluded McNeil should be set free because he received ineffective assistance of counsel during his trial.

Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens appealed the case, but McNeil is going free after entering a plea for the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

McNeil wore a black suit and a solemn expression while exiting an adult detention center in Cobb County on Tuesday afternoon.

“Breathe. Freedom. That’s the first thing I want to do.”

McNeil says it’s bittersweet because during his imprisonment his mother died and less than two weeks ago he lost his wife Anita to cancer.

“Grieving for my wife’s death and my mom’s death, so just a sad time for me right now.”

McNeil is now heading to North Carolina where he will bury his wife. After the plea bargain, McNeil received a 20-year-sentence from a Cobb County judge but was credited for the time served and will spend another 13 years on probation.

In fall of 2005, court records say McNeil and his wife Anita purchased a home in Kennesaw from building company owner Brian Epp. Both parties argued over completed work. In December of the same year, McNeil rushed home and called 911 after his son phoned him and claimed Epp was refusing to leave their yard and had pulled a knife on him. After arriving home, McNeil got a handgun from his glove compartment. Witnesses say he asked Epp to back up. McNeil then said he fired a warning shot but Epp kept advancing and McNeil shot him in the head.

Prosecutors in McNeil’s original case claimed Epp had a knife in his pocket but was not holding it when shot. In 2008, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld McNeil’s conviction saying the evidence in the case was sufficient to find McNeil guilty. Former Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears dissented.