ROCK ISLAND COUNTY, Illinois – An East Moline teen, sentenced to 60 years in prison for murder, has been allowed to withdraw the guilty plea that led to his sentence.
That means LaMaree Wilson-Neuleib will get a new trial.
Prosecutors claimed Wilson-Neuleib opened fire into a car with three people inside, wounding Eric Roberson – from whom Wilson was allegedly buying marijuana – and killing 18-year-old Zac Phillips of Colona, Illinois, who gave Roberson a ride. The shooting happened between 10:30 and 11 a.m. on a weekday in May 2015, in a neighborhood near Black Hawk College. Nearby Jane Addams Elementary School, at 3520 53rd Street, and Butterworth Elementary School, at 4205 48th Street, were locked down as a precaution when the shooting happened.
When he was sentenced in November 2015, Lyndsie McCoy vowed to send Wilson-Neuleib a photo of her son, Zac, twice a year.
Now, Wilson-Neuleib is being allowed to withdraw his guilty plea and get a new trial. The 60-year prison sentence, of which he would have been required to serve 58 years, was also vacated.
Court records showed Wilson-Neuleib will face the original charges of first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm.
Wilson-Neuleib could go to trial as early as mid-June of 2016; he remained in jail in lieu of $2-million bond.