Breathe Freedom

In 2005, John McNeil was living a life that would be deemed successful from any perspective—loving wife, growing children, booming business and a new home in an upscale suburb of Atlanta. In defense of his family and in view of an eyewitness, John found it necessary, on his own property, to defend himself and his son from a man wielding a knife. After multiple warnings and with no choice but to stand his ground, John used deadly force to stop the aggressor.

The Cobb County police did not arrest him, no charges were filed against him, and the chief homicide investigator never wavered from his original finding that there was no crime and no basis upon which to recommend prosecution to the district attorney.

Nine months later, while John was enjoying a houseful of friends and preparing for a tailgate party, a knock on the door altered the very fabric of his life.

The account of this dark period in the life of John McNeil smacks of an improbable plot that would be rejected by many readers as sensationalized and contrived. Like that of the biblical Job, this true story tells of a man’s movement through the loss of everything he ever feared he would lose into a place of imprisonment and complete darkness. He emerges with an understanding of forgiveness and of his role as an agent for healing.