Woman on death row eligible for parole

Officials in DeKalb County say they expect attorneys for a woman convicted 30 years ago in the death of a Georgia teenager to try applying for parole.  District Attorney Mike O’Dell said that toward the end of his term in 1999, then-Gov. Fob James commuted Judith Ann Neelley's death sentence without consulting with other state officials. He didn't specify whether she'd be eligible for parole.  James kept it quiet and told his staff to keep it quiet until he was in the air to go duck hunting in Canada.  The decision was sent a few minutes before 4 p.m. on a Friday. It was the same day prosecutors had asked for an execution day to be set and they had set one. Then, he had the commutation entered.  Neelley is accused of kidnapping a 13-year-old girl, injecting her with drain cleaner and shooting her before pushing her off a cliff at Little river canyon. Prison records indicate Neelley, who is being held in the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, is eligible for parole.  James commuting of Neelley's death sentence without elaborating on the possibility of parole left a gray area that her attorneys could use in a request for parole.