Split verdict in 2007 drug-related homicides

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MAUSTON, Wis. (AP) — A jury in Juneau County has delivered a split decision in a trial for a man accused of two drug-related homicides.

Jurors found John Tetting guilty in the 2007 shooting death of Tabatha Nealy, 23, and not guilty of killing Joshua Alderman, 31.

According to a criminal complaint, Tetting, 30, drove co-defendant David Turner to a remote location in the northern Juneau County town of Finley on March 10, 2007, to meet Alderman about a drug deal. Alderman was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Nealy.

Turner got out of the vehicle, walked over to the other vehicle and fatally shot Alderman and Nealy, the complaint said. Turner, 39, is incarcerated at the New Lisbon Correctional Institute following his conviction in the homicides.

Tetting had previously pleaded no contest to two counts of second-degree reckless homicide in the shooting deaths of Nealy and Alderman. But, when Turner said Tetting had no idea the homicides were going to occur, the court allowed Tetting to withdraw the pleas, according to Daily Tribune Media.

Tetting was found guilty Wednesday of being party to Nealy’s death, but acquitted in Alderman’s homicide after jurors deliberated about 1-½ days.

Nealy’s mother, Sally Hall, of Wisconsin Rapids, said she’s glad the seven-year investigation and court proceedings are finished. Listening to testimony during the two-week trial was the most difficult part, even harder than her daughter’s funeral, she said.

Information from: Daily Tribune Media, http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com