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Law

NAACP Vigil Supports Georgia Inmate

Supporters of a man convicted of murder in Georgia plan to hold a prayer vigil in Wilson tonight.

John McNeil sits today in a Georgia prison. He killed a man he said threatened him and his son at his home in 2005. McNeil was sentenced to life in prison nine months after the incident. The jury went against what police found

North Carolina N-double-A-C-P president William Barber notes a Georgia Superior Court judge recently agreed with those detectives, saying "They investigated it -- two senior detectives -- and determined it was self defense." Barber and other supporters are asking Georgia's attorney general to release McNeil within a month. But Barber says the state of Georgia does have other options.

Barber continues, "They could decide to appeal it but if they do that, it goes to the Supreme Court in Georgia. Or they could decide to try John again."

Barber says tonight's vigil is as much about supporting McNeil's family in Wilson as it is about backing McNeil.

Gurnal Scott joined North Carolina Public Radio in March 2012 after several stops in radio and television. After graduating from the College of Charleston in his South Carolina hometown, he began his career in radio there. He started as a sports reporter at News/Talk Radio WTMA and won five Sportscaster of the Year awards. In 1997, Gurnal moved on to television as general assignment reporter and weekend anchor for WCSC-TV in Charleston. He anchored the market's top-rated weekend newscasts until leaving Charleston for Memphis, TN in 2002. Gurnal worked at WPTY-TV for two years before returning to his roots in radio. He joined the staff of Memphis' NewsRadio 600 WREC in 2004 eventually rising to News Director. In 2006, Raleigh news radio station WPTF came calling and he became the station's chief correspondent. Gurnal’s reporting has been honored by the South Carolina Broadcasters Association, the North Carolina Associated Press, and the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas.
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