PURVIS —Two families left Gamble Chancery Courthouse in tears late Thursday afternoon after jurors found Jennifer Wardle, now 29, innocent of murder in the 2002 death of her boyfriend, Vicksburg native James Neal May.

May’s family walked away in stony silence, declining to speak about the outcome.

The others paused just long enough to express their relief, while expressing hope that May’s family would some day find peace.

Wardle, who had been in a relationship with May and gave birth to his son a few weeks after his death, was found innocent by a Lamar County Circuit Court jury after taking the stand in her own defense and calling May “the love of her life” earlier in the day.

The trial began Monday with Judge R.I. Prichard III presiding. Jurors deliberated less than two hours before Circuit Clerk Leslie Wilson read aloud the decision, which set off simultaneous sobs and gasps.

Wardle, who lives in Brooklyn, spoke briefly as she left the courthouse, flanked by her parents, Joe and Tammy Lee Wardle. “I’m happy and I’m very glad that it’s over,” Wardle said. “I’m happy the truth came out and I hope that (May’s family) can accept it.”

May was found dead of a single gunshot to the back of his skull, his gun lying near his head  in the small bedroom of his trailer home off West 4th Street, just before dawn on May 1, 2002. The death of the USM senior was ruled a suicide. But at the behest of his family, the state attorney general’s office agreed to review the case, and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation — the investigative arm of the Mississippi Highway Patrol — was called to look into it.

With the attorney general’s office prosecuting, Wardle was indicted for murder on Oct. 10, 2007. She has been free on $100,000 bail since.

Joe Wardle said his family always had believed that his daughter was innocent of the charges, but that he also felt for Peggi and James May, who lost their 22-year-old son nearly eight years ago. “Our prayers go out to the Mays, and maybe the healing will start now,” he said.

Earlier in the week, state’s witnesses who had been with the pair the night before he died testified that the two had a heated argument after she had confronted him for not answering his phone while out drinking with friends.

“We maybe bickered back and forth,” said Wardle. “I told him, ‘What if I go into labor and you’re not there? You’re not even sober and couldn’t drive me to the hospital.’”

Prosecution witnesses said Wardle was angry, had gotten a handgun from May’s truck and that he’d told her he would support the child, but wanted to end the relationship. All had left before the shooting occurred.

Wardle countered that May had been living “a double life” for his last six months, continuing to see her despite the disapproval of his parents.

She testified that May was quiet and became despondent as they drove back to his trailer at 5193 W. 4th St. early on the morning of May 1.

“He was saying stuff like, ‘This is my last cigarette,’” Wardle said. “He put his head on my belly and he was crying.”

The two went into the trailer, with May bringing in his Ruger 9 mm semiautomatic pistol from his truck. The two wound up back outside, where Wardle said May knocked her aside, and went back in, locking the door and leaving her outside.

“I heard his gun cock, or slide back or whatever, and then 30 seconds later, I heard a pop.” Wardle said softly. “I heard it, and my heart stopped.”

Wardle said she ran to the neighbors, asking them to call 911, and then pulled the door open where it was warped at the bottom of the frame.

“I went in kind of slow, calling his name,” Wardle said. “I was scared, thinking he was playing some kind of joke.”

Then she turned into the bedroom, “and I saw his head laid back and saw the blood. I couldn’t believe it. It was unreal.”

The prosecution, mostly based on the location and angle of the single gunshot wound, had a different version.

“There is no way, no way, that Neal May, a left-handed young man, could hold the gun at that angle and shoot himself,” said Treasure Tyson, special assistant attorney general. “She put a gun at the back of Neal May’s head and killed him, killed him in cold blood.”

Jim Dukes, one of Wardle’s lawyers, told jurors the law wouldn’t allow them to guess what happened.

“Without any question, there just was no evidence of guilt,” Dukes said. “It’s been a long, trying ordeal for this young lady and her family, but they wanted to convey their thoughts to the May family, that hopefully a healing process could take place for everybody.”

Tim Doherty writes for The Hattiesburg American