Cape Girardeau man found guilty in Neelys Landing shooting

A Cape Girardeau County jury found a Cape Girardeau man guilty Thursday in the August shooting of a man near Neelys Landing.

Jimmy Ray Bell intentionally shot Joshua Abernathie in the face about 3 a.m. Aug. 28, after a night of drinking, the jury determined. Abernathie lost his left eye as a result.

The jury found Bell guilty of first-degree assault and armed criminal action after deliberating about an hour Thursday. Bell faces up to 30 years in prison for the assault. He is scheduled to be sentenced July 30.

Bell, Abernathie and Seth Summers had been drinking and drove a Chevrolet Lumina into rural parts of Cape Girardeau. Between 2 and 3 a.m., they stopped near Neelys Landing, where they got out of the vehicle and continued to drink.

At some point Summers grabbed Abernathie from behind and said, "We're doing this," Abernathie said during the two-day trial. Then Summers sprayed Abernathie in the face with Mace or bug killer, he said.

Abernathie saw a flash, heard a "pow" and felt something strike him in the head. He fled until Summers and Bell left, then found a farmhouse, where he pounded on the door and screamed for help.

The homeowner testified Wednesday that he went to an upstairs door and looked out. He saw Abernathie "covered in blood" and called 911.

Deputies detained Bell and Summers several miles away.

An ambulance transported Abernathie to Saint Francis Medical Center, where a CT scan determined he still had a bullet wedged in the back of his right cheekbone. Doctors determined it was unsafe to try to remove it.

Defense attorney Chris Davis argued in closing statements that it was "just three drunk boys with a .22 out in the woods in the middle of the night."

The shooting was an accident, Davis said.

"This was clearly not an accident," Cape Girardeau County assistant prosecutor Jack Koester said. "If you accidentally shoot somebody, you're immediately going to drop the gun or stop shooting."

Koester contended Bell continued to fire as Abernathie fled into the woods. Neither Bell nor Summers called out to Abernathie when he ran, he said.

"They were hunting him," Koester said. "The only accident was that Joshua Abernathie got away."

Davis argued that police didn't consider the possibility of the shooting being an accident. He said investigators found a gun, a new roll of duct tape, a new package of latex gloves, an unopened package containing a new drop cloth, a bottle of bleach and two sets of clothes in the car and decided Bell and Summers had decided to murder Abernathie.

In the trial, prosecutors presented a video recording of Bell's interrogation the morning after the shooting.

In the recording, Bell, who did not testify in the trial, can be heard explaining that he took the handgun that evening so he could shoot at trees. Bell said he always keeps extra sets of clothes in the car. He had bought the duct tape and drop cloth to use to winterize his apartment. The bleach was there to clean up with after work, said Bell, who worked in the automotive department at Walmart, where he did service on tires.

Detectives asked Bell why he would buy winterization materials in the middle of the summer. He replied that he liked to be prepared.

Davis argued that the men had no motive to kill Abernathie.

But Koester said they did not need a motive. Abernathie had no money, no job and no real home.

"That made Josh abundantly disposable. It made him a target," Koester said. "I don't know what they were trying to accomplish by shooting him. Senseless acts of violence happen all the time."

Summers' trial is scheduled for Aug. 1.

Abernathie is serving three years in jail after stealing a cement truck in Cape Girardeau. He was sentenced in May.

jgamm@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address:

44 N. Lorimier St., Cape Girardeau, MO