Jury convicts woman in 2020 murder of U.S. Army veteran in Tallahassee
A second person has been convicted for the 2020 murder of Iraq War veteran John Dees, prosecutors announced.
Sherill Conner, 55, the first person to be arrested in the shooting and killing of Dees, was found guilty by a jury of being an accessory after the fact in the first-degree murder following a two-day trial.
She is set to appear in court again March 26 for a case management hearing, according to a press release from the State Attorney's Office.
Dees rented a room from Conner, and a few weeks after he moved in, Dees' body was found Jan. 13, 2020, with gunshot wounds in his head and arm in a wooded area off Pecan Road, according to the release.
The night Dees was murdered, Conner called the Tallahassee Police Department to complain that he had become loud and combative, and she wanted him removed from her apartment.
The 34-year-old Dees, who served in the Army, suffered a head injury in Iraq and fell into addiction after coming home, an unforeseen consequence of pain pills he was originally prescribed for a toothache.
"She was advised that that would require an eviction, and when the officers left her apartment she immediately called her co-defendant, Cleveland McNair, to come remove the victim instead," the State Attorney's Office said.
McNair, 40, was arrested a month after Conner on a charge of first-degree murder.
However, last year he was was found guilty on a lesser charge of manslaughter after a two-day trial and sentenced to 13 years in prison. He is now at the Bay Correctional Facility in Panama City, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
Surveillance footage shows a third suspect, who still is unidentified, arriving in an unknown car with McNair. The vehicle departs then later returns, and Conner can be seen inspecting the backseat of the car before the three walk into her apartment, the video shows.
They spent the rest of the evening clearing out Dees' belongings and burning them in a dumpster.
"The defendant lied to law enforcement in multiple interviews that she had no knowledge of where Mr. Dees went, or who the men on the surveillance were, until she ultimately admitted she did know these men, she did call them over and she did destroy the victim’s belongings," the State Attorney's Office said.
Breaking & trending news reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Jury convicts Tallahassee woman in 2020 murder of U.S. Army veteran
