Choice Postings

10/17/12

Hey guys,
One new event I found interesting was the appealing of the case of a man from Kennesaw who shot and killed the contractor. As the story goes, John McNeil had hired a contractor construct a house for him. This man, Brian Epp, was hired to carry out the job. However, after the house was finished, McNeil hadn't agreed on a particular detail in the construction of his home. This started an ongoing feud between McNeil and Epp. One day, McNeil's teenage son had noticed a strange man on their property. McNeil's son had called McNeil while he was on his way home. He had noticed that the strange man was in fact Epp. Epp had supposedly threatened McNeil's son with a box cutter, which provoked McNeil to load his gun with hollow points and confront Epp himself. When McNeil got home, he fired one warning shot into the ground, and after seeing that Epp did not leave his property, proceeded to shoot Epp in the face, killing him. McNeil, was accused and convicted of shooting and killing his contractor over a year ago and sentenced to life in prison, but due to insistent pleading, McNeil was allowed another trial on the basis that his defense attorney did not "push to have the jury told McNeil had the right to use deadly force to defend his son and his home as well as himself." Apparently, since McNeil had only fired for the purpose of self-defense, he believes that he should get a more kind punishment.

Another interesting story I read was that of a 29 year old mother in Cobb County who had bought and injected herself with heroine. To make matters worse, this was while she was in her car, while she was driving, with her two children, and they were sitting innocently in the backseat of her car while she was doing this. The accused mother, Kelley Denise Rhodes, was arrested last Friday and charged with a felony and two misdemeanors. Rhodes is currently residing in Cobb County Jail with no bond.
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/cops-mom-bought-injected-heroin-with-kids-in-car/nSf8b/
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/state-regional/state-to-appeal-decision-on-kennesaw-man-who-kille/nSgFH/