FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1 October 2012
For More Information: Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, 919-394-8137
Mrs. Amina J. Turner, Executive Director, 919-682-4700
NC NAACP and Wilson County NAACP to Hold Rally and Prayer Vigil for John McNeil Following Major Victory in a Georgia Courthouse
WILSON - Following last week's major court decision to grant John McNeil's habeas corpus claim, the North Carolina NAACP and others will hold a rally and prayer vigil with local churches in his hometown of Wilson, NC, where his wife and family now live.
The rally and prayer vigil, hosted North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, the local Wilson County Branch of the NAACP and the Committee to Free John McNeil, will take place on Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at 7:00 PM at Calvary United Holy Church, 515 Daniel Street, Wilson, NC.
"The order is a great step for the judge to acknowledge something went wrong in the case and conviction of John McNeil," said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, president of the NC NAACP. "We have two white senior detectives, a white eye witness, a Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court and now a judge all saying that there has been a miscarriage of justice in the case of John McNeil. We hope the State of Georgia will see the error of its way and admit they have wrongfully convicted a good man who only engaged in justified self-defense. We hope they will do the right thing and free John McNeil. We call on everyone who believes in justice to join us on Wednesday in Wilson, NC for a prayer vigil and rally as a part of a massive mobilization and moral outcry to FREE JOHN MCNEIL!"
"I know we still have a journey in front of us, but today we smile, for we have won," stated John's wife Anita McNeil, who recently was able to visit John for the first time in nearly two years. "We are thankful first to GOD and then to the judge. She looked at the case and saw it for what it is. We are thankful to Ben Jealous, Ed Dubose, Rev. Dr. William Barber, Atty. Al McSurely, Dr. Niaz Kasravi and the entire NAACP. We are also so grateful for Frank Jones, the Committee to Free John McNeil, and our attorney Mark Yurachek for all the hard work they have put in up to this point. We also thank all the people who have stood up and are standing up to support us. We will continue our fight and we won't stop until we have freedom for John, beginning again with a prayer vigil and rally on Wednesday."
Rev. Barber continued, "The North Carolina NAACP is thankful for the judge's wise and just decision. We are prayerful that Georgia officials will have the opportunity to look at the case in the fresh light of day and see that John should be released immediately. And that's why we are having a prayer vigil on Wednesday. We pray for truth to prevail, for justice to be served and for the Georgia criminal justice system to repent and do the right thing. To appeal or retry him would be cruel, unusual punishment; would prolong this miscarriage of justice; would waste time and money; and would keep a good man away from his sick wife and his children who need him. Along with the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP and the National NAACP, we are planning a massive popular education campaign across the country, in North Carolina and in Georgia."
The Georgia Superior Court order granting John McNeil's petition of habeas corpus, filed on September 28, 2012 makes the case clear:
If the so-called "castle doctrine" means anything, it is that a homeowner like McNeil, confronted with a hostile adversary with the clear intent to "offer personal violence" to both him and his teenage son, can use deadly force when he is backed up to his home and that adversary is charging directly at him and reaching for a weapon, all after McNeil fire a warning shot in his immediate presence. As such, counsel prejudiced McNeil's justification defense by failing to assure that the jury was aware that McNeil had every right to defend his home, i.e. his castle, from Epp's attack.
The entire order can be downloaded here. Below you can find the National NAACP's news release on the decision and remarks given by Rev. Barber in Georgia at a news conference earlier this month.
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BREAKING NEWS: John McNeil Habeas Petition Granted; NAACP Urges Georgia Attorney General Not to Appeal the Ruling
29 September 2012
(Atlanta, GA) - On September, 25th, a Georgia Superior Court Judge granted John McNeil's petition for habeas corpus. John was convicted of killing Brian Epp despite evidence that he was defending himself and his family on his own property. The court's decision concludes that John received ineffective counsel during his trial when his attorney, among other things, "failed to request charges based on the theories of defense of habitation and/or defense of property." View the habeas order here: http://action.naacp.org/page/-/images/press/Order%20Habeas_John%20McNeil.pdf.
"I know we still have a journey in front of us, but today we smile, for we have won," stated John's wife Anita McNeil, who recently was able to visit John for the first time in nearly two years. "We are thankful first to GOD and then to the judge. She looked at the case and saw it for what it is. We are thankful to Ben Jealous, Ed Dubose, Rev. Dr. William Barber Al McSurely, Dr. Niaz Kasravi and the entire NAACP. We also are so grateful for Frank Jones, the Committee to Free John McNeil, and our attorney Mark Yurachek for all the hard work they have put in to this point. We also thank all the people who have stood up and are standing up to support us. We will continue our fight and we won't stop until we have freedom for John."
Georgia's Attorney General has 30 days to appeal the court's decision. The NAACP has sent out a petition urging Georgia Attorney General Olens not to pursue an appeal in John's McNeil's case. The petition already has over 14,567 signatures.
"This is the first step towards righting the wrong the Cobb County District Attorney made when it prosecuted a father for defending his family on his own property," stated NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. "We are urging the state to not appeal this decision. John has spent years in prison, separated from the family he protected, because a district attorney decided to prosecute John 274 days after two police detectives ruled his case self-defense. The NAACP commends John's attorney, his family and our Georgia and North Carolina State Conferences for all they have done and are doing to ensure Georgia rights this grave miscarriage of justice."
Earlier this month, Jealous, along with NAACP Georgia State Conference President Edward DuBose and NAACP North Carolina State Conference President Rev. William Barber, met with John McNeil in prison to discuss the case and their efforts to secure his freedom.
"The Georgia State Conference NAACP is content with the decision by the Court," stated Dubose. "We recognize that this is the first of many steps in the journey towards reuniting John McNeil with his family. We are confident that the decision by the Court will serve as a battle cry for all people of good will throughout the state and the country in calling for Georgia to free John McNeil."
"This is a great step by the judge to acknowledge something went wrong in the case and conviction of John McNeil," stated Rev. William J Barber II, President of the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP. "We hope the state of Georgia will see the error of its way and admit they have wrongfully convicted a good man who only engaged in justified self defense. We call on everyone who believes in justice to join us in a massive mobilization and moral outcry to free John McNeil!"
"It is a very good day," stated Mark Yurachek, John McNeil's attorney. "I am thrilled with the Court's decision and very, very, happy for John and his family.
In 2006, John McNeil returned to his home in Cobb County, Georgia to protect his son from Brian Epp, an armed trespasser on his property. After calling the police and firing a warning shot into the ground as Epp approached him in the driveway, John McNeil shot and killed Epp, who was white.
Despite the investigating officers' conclusion that McNeil did not commit a crime, 274 days later, Cobb County District Attorney charged McNeil with murder. During the trial, the detectives who investigated the shooting both testified on behalf of John McNeil.
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"Six years ago, John McNeil received a call from his son that changed John's life."
Excerpts From Remarks at News Conference at the Georgia State Capital by
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, North Carolina NAACP,
September 10, 2012,
After visiting John McNeil in Macon State Prison with National NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous; Edward DuBose, Georgia NAACP State Conference President; Dr. Niaz Kasravi, Director of the Criminal Justice Program of the National NAACP; Frank Jones, Wilson County NAACP and Committee to Free John McNeil; Bob Zellner, field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the 1960's and part of NC NAACP Communications Committee; and Kevin Miles, NAACP Region Five Field Director
I am Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President of the North Carolina NAACP and chair of the National NAACP's Political Action Committee. I speak for the 120 branches of the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and over 140 partners in our Historic Thousands on Jones Street People's Assembly Coalition. North Carolinians are proud to stand with President Ed Dubose of the Georgia State Conference and or National NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous, as we protest the unjust life sentence of John McNeil here in Georgia. John, his wife Anita, and their children are all sons and daughters of North Carolina. It was hard for us to visit John locked up in a Georgia prison, one of North Carolina's sons, knowing he shouldn't be there.
When John's plight was first brought to the NAACP by Frank Jones, a retired Wilson police officer and close friend of John and Anita McNeil--Frank had known them both since high school--our lawyers reviewed the evidence and immediately recognized a great injustice had taken place against one of our best and brightest. We asked Georgia NAACP President Ed Dubose to review the case, and after he studied the evidence, he agreed with us and has since then been one of John's greatest supporters. We took the same evidence to the national NAACP, and our 64-member Board of Directors, and after careful review, they have all become part of the Movement to Free John McNeil. We believe anyone who studies the evidence will quickly join the Movement to Free John McNeil. That's because John McNeil has always done the right thing.
John McNeil went to school. That's the right thing. He stayed out of trouble. That's what we want our kids to do. He studied and practiced basketball, became a McDonald's All-American, and won a scholarship to college, and graduated from college. That's the right thing.
John married his high school sweetheart, Anita, and they had children together. They moved to Georgia where he became a highly successful businessman and a model citizen. He had a sterling reputation, as a man of honor and integrity--a man of his word.
Six years ago John received a phone call from one of his children that changed his life. John's son told him a man was on the McNeil property, and was threatening the son with a knife. John told his son to go into the house and then called the police. John told the 911 operator he would meet the police at his home, and then drove his home to protect his son.
As John parked his truck in his driveway, near the backdoor of his home, the man was there on the McNeil's property. John took his registered pistol from his truck, and told the trespasser to leave. The man kept walking directly toward John and the backdoor of John's home. John told the trespasser to leave again, and the man aggressively came closer to John and the backdoor of his home. John backed up and fired one warning shot into the ground. The man kept coming at him until he was within arm's length of John and John's gun, only a few feet from the backdoor of the McNeil home where John's son was hiding. John fired a second shot, killing the trespasser. A lethal knife was in the trespasser's pocket.
A White eye witness described the warning shot, and the fatal shot. He said what John did was right.
Two White senior police detectives were at the home within minutes, investigated the scene and talked to all the witnesses, and they said what John did was right. For nine months, John was not charged. Then, 273 days after the police said no crime had occurred, the DA in Cobb County, which includes the city of Kennesaw where it is against the law to NOT own a gun, arrested John and put him on trial for felony murder. A Cobb County jury convicted John and he was sentenced to life, despite the White witness who testified John was not the aggressor. John was convicted, despite the historic testimony of two White detectives in a southern courtroom who told the jury that a Black man accused of killing a White man acted in self-defense, challenging the White DA in his own courtroom. We have not found any other case where this has happened.
John did what was right. Yes it was a tragedy, but John did what is right. Georgia did what was wrong.
John, a model man, a good man, is in prison for the rest of his life. This is wrong. John couldn't be with his mother when she died a month ago. This is wrong. John McNeil can't be with his wife, supporting her as she struggles with life-threatening cancer. This is wrong. John a good Black father can't raise his sons. This is wrong. John McNeil can't contribute to society. This is wrong.
If this can happen to John McNeil, it can happen to any Black man or any man no matter how good of a life he has led. Has Georgia changed centuries-old law of self-defense? Is it now the case you cannot defend your children from an armed attacker on your own back porch if you are a Black father and homeowner in Georgia or America? Something's wrong here. Terribly wrong, legally wrong, morally wrong. Chief Justice Sears said it was wrong. We tell the world, this is wrong! The only way to make it right is to FREE JOHN MCNEIL NOW.
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