One of the biggest mysteries surrounding former Auburn football player Mike McNeil has been this, why did he wait until one week before his scheduled trial date to suddenly tell his side of the story to Selena Roberts?
It doesn't make much sense, particularly because many of the jurors in his criminal trial are likely to be Auburn fans. Why alienate those jurors by going after the university that those jurors probably support? It doesn't make any sense at all to put the most popular employer on trial in an effort to prove that you didn't commit a robbery. It would appear to be foolhardy in the extreme, completely and totally idiotic.
But that, apparently, is part of McNeil's defense strategy for his upcoming robbery trial, to argue that Auburn is partly to blame.
I guess you have to throw up some legal hail marys when the police pull over your car minutes after the robbery and find you and three other men with stolen objects.
So how will McNeil make his case?
OKTC has obtained the 33 person subpoena'd witness list for McNeil's trial; the list features at least seven former members of the Auburn Tigers football team. Three of the players on the witness list were also charged with armed robbery alongside McNeil.
Those seven players are: Deangelo Benton, Anthony Morgan, Shaun Kitchens, Dakota Mosley, Neiko Thorpe, a current Kansas City Chief, Michael Dyer, who has since transferred from Auburn and is seeking to enroll at another school for the 2013 season, and Antonio Goodwin.
Kitchens, Mosley, and Goodwin were also charged alongside McNeil in the 2011 armed robbery. Goodwin has already been of armed robbery after a 2012 trial. His defense? That he'd been smoking synthetic marijuana before the crime and was not responsible for his actions.
Goodwin is currently serving 15 years in jail.
Above is the McNeil witness list.
As you can see, several of the witnesses are police and the victims in the robbery. Others don't show up when a Google search of their names is done.
If any of you guys know the names on the list or have an idea why they're there, feel free to email me.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to hear what the seven former Auburn players say on the witness stand next week.
