.....reprinted from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch March 9, 2004.....
LAW & ORDER
ST. LOUIS
Woman is charged with killing boyfriend
Jacqueline Neal, 25, was charged Monday with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of her boyfriend, Julius Eberhart , 32, St. Louis police said. Neal told homicide detectives the shooting happened about 9:45 p.m. Sunday during a quarrel in a car as Eberhart was driving on Interstate 70 near West Florissant Avenue, police said.
Neal said Eberhart had pulled out a pistol during the quarrel but later placed it on the seat. She said she then picked it up, police reported. Neal said that as she was holding the gun, a vehicle struck their car in the rear, causing the pistol to discharge, police said.
Eberhart was shot in the chest. After the shooting, Neal called authorities.
Neal also was charged with armed criminal action. The couple lived in the 1300 block of Warren Street.----Copyright (c) 2004 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Record Number 0403100477
"Nigga, you can’t hoop," I teased an old friend nearly ten years after our last encounter. The friend, Julius Eberhardt, had wandered, quite aimlessly, into the convenience store my family owned on The City’s Southside, sorting through an array of over the counter goodies and cakes, obviously oblivious to my presence.
"Toriano?" JuJu enthusiastically surmised after realizing the subject of his impromptu ribbing. "Hell naw! What’chu you doing in herre?"
"Man, this my people’s spot," I said shortly after a empathetic handshake/hug. "I’m here damn near everyday."
JuJu was a standout basketball player throughout his younger days playing for the St. Louis Zips, a 1980’s staple in the annals of youth basketball programs in St. Louis. By the time the Carr Square Village reared ball hawk got to Eureka High as a sophomore he was a combination point guard/small forward with deft ball handling skills and uncanny scoring ability. His defense, according to our sophomore coach, Craig Kennedy, left a little to be desired. His offensive capabilities were more than enough to atone for any of JuJu’s defensive liabilities.
Coach Kennedy regular chided JuJu about his defensive shortcomings. Coach would constantly question JuJu’s commitment to defensive excellent—our sophomore squad was built on speed, defensive pressure and smarts—but nonetheless place the enigmatic JuJu among the first five game after game. JuJu had mad game and Coach K knew it. In fact, JuJu was even getting looked at by Coach Gene Myers for possible varsity playing time.
"Damn, JuJu," I continued after our heart-felt embrace, "where you been, man."
"Man, I been around," he said, steady searching for some mid-afternoon snacks. "Where you been? Nigga, I ain’t seen you in hellas."
"Shiiidddd, man," I countered, "I been around."
JuJu and I jaw-jacked a few more minutes before the young lady he was riding with came into the store. She was a bit annoyed.
"Damn, JuJu," the portly-shaped woman screamed, "what’s taking you so long?"
"Damn, baby, chill out," JuJu shot back, "I’m in herre hollin’ at my homeboy from high school."
JuJu, smoothing over the slight episode, casually introduced me to the woman--his girlfriend and mother of JuJu’s two kids. He paid for the snacks and sent his girl back to the car before going down memory lane.
"T, remember when we played The V our sophomore year," JuJu chimed, "and we had that two-on-one fast break?" The V—as in national basketball powerhouse Vashon High, as well as local power DeSmet High’s "B" teams were two of the teams on our sophomore team’s 1989-90 schedule.
Coach Kennedy was enthused about the sophomore class of 1992 from both Rockwood South and Eureka Junior Highs. Rockwood South and Eureka Jr. were both feeder schools to Eureka Sr. High at the time. The gig was Coach Kennedy’s first boy’s basketball job after coaching the girl’s varsity at Eureka a couple of seasons prior to ‘89. He challenged his talented collection of athletes by assembling a schedule that featured some of the area’s better basketball programs.
"You remember that shit?" I asked JuJu about the not so distant memory of him and me running one of Coach K’s fundamental fast breaks.
JuJu, based on his Carr Square Village roots, resided within The V’s boundaries. He dreamed of donning the Wolverine Blue and White of The V, but his mother had other plans. She enrolled JuJu and his siblings in state of Missouri’s voluntary desegregation program. JuJu, like the most of us from The City, had trouble adjusting to the rural aspects of Eureka, Mo, but somehow still managed to enjoy the daily 30 mile excursion.
"Man, we straight beat them cats that day," JuJu exclaimed about the mild upset. His former Zips teammate, Jermaine "Q-Ball" Kemp, had told JuJu all week long how Kemp and his Vashon "B" team comrades were "gonna kill ya’ll white boys."
We beat both The V and DeSmet that year, finishing a respectable 18-6 before heading for the varsity team the following year. "Them niggas was talkin’ all shit, too."
We wrapped up our nostalgic based conversation by exchanging contact information. JuJu wanted to know—and me to prove—if I still had some basketball skills. He assured me he hadn’t lost his touch.
"We gon’ go hoopin’ Monday," JuJu boastfully promised, doubting my claims I still had it, "and see what’chu got. Make sho’ you call me Tory, man."
I watched JuJu out the door on that beautiful early spring Friday afternoon. I could see his still annoyed girlfriend…well…still annoyed. He flashed his trademark toothy grin through the front windshield at her as approached the car. I laughed because I remembered the Rudolph Valentino type charm he displayed to the girls at Eureka back in the day. He and his girl kissed as they pulled off the lot and I laughed again. That big-headed fool has still got it, I thought.
It was business as usual the Monday after JuJu’s visit to the store. In some ways it was fitting JuJu would come into my place of employment—after all his brother Jason, Jason’s girlfriend and Jason girlfriend’s younger brother Brandon were regular patron at the Porter gas filling establishment.
In fact, Brandon mentioned to me shortly after JuJu’s visit that he didn’t know I knew his "big brother". Three days later, Brandon dropped a load on me that reverberates numbing pain through my body to this day.
"Cuzz, JuJu dead," Brandon said to me as he approached the sales counter door. Immediately my heart sank. "His gal shot him last night, cuzz, and killed him."
I was too distraught to make sense of the circumstances behind JuJu’s death. Brandon tried explaining to me what had happen between JuJu and his girl, but the story was so unbelievably cruel I couldn’t make sense of it.
"Man, you bullshitting!" was all I could muster.
JuJu’s wake, funeral and coming home celebration was difficult for me. I mean, here it was, a friend who I hadn’t seen in nearly a decade, dead because of a domestic dispute (his girl was charged with involuntary manslaughter) merely three days after our post-high school real world encounter. I said many a tear as they laid my homie to rest.
JuJu you left this place a legend from a legendary family. Your kids will continue to live on in your legacy. God knew I needed an angel in my life so he sent you to see me before your homecoming. I’m glad I knew you. You’ll be sorely missed.
....reprinted from the St Louis Post-Dispatch, April 4, 2006....
ST. LOUIS: Woman gets 5-year term in boyfriend's death
A St. Louis woman has pleaded guilty of a lesser felony rather than face trial on a murder charge in the fatal shooting of her boyfriend in a car on Interstate 70.
Jacqueline Neal, 27, of the 1300 block of Warren Street, was scheduled for trial this week on charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action. Instead, she pleaded guilty March 20 of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to five years in prison, prosecutor Christine Krug said Monday.
Neal shot Julius Eberhart , 32, in the chest on March 7, 2004. At the time, Neal told police that Eberhart had pulled out a gun as the two quarreled while driving on Interstate 70 near West Florissant Avenue. She grabbed the gun when he put it down, she said, and it went off when they were rear-ended by another vehicle.
Krug said that Neal was found to be suffering from battered spouse syndrome.---Copyright (c) 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Record Number: 1000534017
