Man acquitted by Hall jury faces life sentence in Missouri

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - A possible life sentence awaits a Missouri man acquitted of murder by a Hall County jury four years ago but convicted last week in an attempted murder in Missouri.

A jury in St. Louis convicted Dale Wayne McKenzie in the attempted murder of his son's girlfriend.

The incident occurred in Fenton, Missouri, last spring, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, when McKenzie broke into the house the victim shared with his son.

According to the AccessNorthGa.com archives, in 2002, a jury that had been picked from Gainesville because of a change-of-venue found McKenzie, then living in Atlanta, not guilty of murdering a Duluth woman in Dawson County.

The jury deliberated five hours and defense attorney Brad Morris credited the jurors with doing the right thing.

"This is a good example that there are good jurors out there, and sometimes that stand up and do the right thing," Morris said at the time.

McKenzie had been accused of killing Melissa Shreve in 1999. her body was found in Lake Lanier at Nix Bridge Park on the Dawson County side of the lake.

In the Missouri case, according to the St. Louis newspaper, McKenzie, 45, was convicted of burglary, first-degree assault in the attempted murder, and misdemeanor assault. He is to be sentenced Sept. 22 by St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Robert S. Cohen.