Trail set in drive-by shooting of ex-husband

Published 11:00 am Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Mary Lou Neely

Mary Lou Neely

A Brandon woman accused of attempting to kill her estranged husband at a home in Bovina will stand trial in September.

Mary Lou Neely, 58, of Brandon entered a not guilty plea Tuesday after indictment last month by a Warren County grand jury for attempted murder and drive-by shooting.

Circuit Judge M. James Chaney set trial for Sept. 15.

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Neely, who appeared in court in a wheelchair and wearing an orange Warren County Jail jumpsuit, is accused of trying to kill Billy Dale Neely, 52, who lives on Deer Creek Circle, in a drive-by shooting while he was working on his vehicle in the carport of the home, Sheriff Martin Pace has said.

Deer Circle is a cul-de-sac in the Silver Creek subdivision about five miles from the intersection of U.S. 80 and Mississippi 27.

At 12:45 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, Mary Lou Neely pulled up to Billy Neely’s house and fired multiple shots with a handgun, hitting him at least once in the abdomen, Pace said.

Billy Neely’s description and the information provided to dispatchers helped the sheriff’s office catch his estranged wife before she was able to reach Interstate 20. She was arrested at the intersection of Mississippi 27 and U.S. 80, and a weapon believed to have been used in the shooting recovered.

A Vicksburg Fire Department ambulance took Billy Neely to an open area of the neighborhood where a helicopter picked him up and took him to University Medical Center where he spent several weeks before being released.

The attempted murder was the third high-profile shooting considered by the grand jury.

Last week, seven suspects younger than 21 pleaded not guilty in the shooting death of 17-year-old Ke’Marvin Stamps, and Jarvis Jones, 20, was arraigned after indictment in the shooting death of 27-year-old Willie Swartz outside Starlight Longue on Lee Road.