Springfield, MO: Appeals Court overturns Neldon Neal's conviction for wife's death

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A state appeals court overturned the involuntary manslaughter conviction of a man from Roby who killed his wife in 2007. A jury convicted Neldon Neal after rejecting prosecutors’ arguments that Neal was guilty of second-degree murder for the shooting death of Judy Lewis.

Neal received a 30-year prison sentence. His case gained notoriety because he hid from law enforcement officers in the Mark Twain National Forest southeast of Fort Leonard Wood for 62 days after his wife’s death. Searchers found evidence that he’d hidden inside a hollow log part of the time.
,P> A judge moved Neal’s trial from Texas County to Pulaski County, and imported a jury from Moniteau County to try to ensure a fair trial. A three-judge panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, agreed with defense attorneys that the jury should not have been given the option of voluntary manslaughter.

The appeals judges said, although the death occurred during an argument between Neal and Lewis, the state didn’t show that it happened in the “heat of passion,” a necessary element for voluntary manslaughter. The appeals judges said the jury should not have been given that instruction.

Prosecutors said the evidence showed Neal intentionally killed his wife. Neal said it was an accident that occurred when she tried to take a gun away from him during the argument.

The appeals court said, since the jury found Neal not guilty of second-degree murder, he can’t be retried on that charge or voluntary manslaughter because of the legal principle of double jeopardy. Thus, if Neal is retried, the only possible charge would be involuntary manslaughter.

Prosecutors could ask all seven judges of the appeals court to reconsider the case. Such a request is rarely granted. After that, they could also ask the Missouri Supreme Court to consider the case before it returns to trial court. Texas County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Anderson didn’t return a reporter’s call for a comment.

Regardless, Neal, 63, won’t be free for a long time. He’s in the Jefferson City Correctional Center serving a seven-year sentence for an armed robbery of a convenience store several years ago. He was on probation or parole from that sentence before Lewis’ death. After that sentence is complete, his defense attorney says, Neal will serve a 17-year federal prison sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm – the gun that killed Lewis. Neal pleaded guilty to that crime before the murder trial.