Man reflects on verdict, death of ex-wife's lover
Duncan MansfieldProsecutors sought a first-degree murder conviction and could have sent him away for life. Instead, a jury convicted the teacher's husband of reckless homicide, for fatally shooting his wife's student lover.
Because of the conviction on a lesser charge, Eric McLean, 33, will likely receive probation when he is sentenced Nov. 7. Now he said he just wants to put the trial behind.
"Now that the verdict came out, I feel like people won't be afraid of me," McLean told The Associated Press on Friday, a day after the verdict in the 2007 shooting of Sean Powell, the 18-year-old lover and former student of his now ex-wife Erin McLean.
"I hope people eventually won't see me and say, 'Hey, that is the guy.' They will just forget about it."
Eric McLean hopes to see his sons again, follow his dream of becoming a high school band director and no longer worry about how people look at him.
Defense attorney Bruce Poston said the verdict was "so crucial" for the man's future.
The jury said in effect that "there was no intent to harm" and that McLean was only guilty of "doing something foolish that resulted in death," Poston said.
McLean testified that he was trying to get Powell to leave the McLeans' home the day of the shooting.
Erin McLean, then 29, had been flaunting an affair with Powell for weeks, the court heard. They laughed as the husband called 911 to scare Powell away.
With Powell sitting in his old car waiting for Erin McLean to join him, Eric McLean walked up with a 30-caliber rifle to try to get him to leave. Powell grabbed the barrel, McLean jerked back and the gun discharged, McLean testified.
Powell was killed instantly.
McLean admitted to the shooting when he was picked up by police the next day. He spent 42 days in jail before being released on bond.
He has been living in virtual seclusion with his parents since, working each day on a friend's farm and getting home by 6 p.m. for a court-ordered curfew.
"I have been really depressed and ashamed. I didn't want to go around people because I felt awkward," he said, awkward mostly for them, not himself.
A jazz blues drummer, he has hopes of completing the last classes for his music degree at the University of Tennessee and becoming a high school band director. It was a goal he delayed to raise the couple's two sons while his wife of 10 years finished her teacher training.
A reckless homicide conviction does not automatically disqualify someone from holding a teaching certificate in Tennessee, said Rachel Woods, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Education. But it will require McLean to under go internal hearings and reviews every step of the way.
Poston has no doubt he "would make a wonderful teacher."
But paramount in McLean's mind is getting back his sons, 12-year-old "Little Eric" and 9-year-old Ian, who disappeared months ago with Erin McLean, though he was granted equal visitation in a divorce in February.
His ex-wife's whereabouts are unknown and McLean hasn't talked to his sons in more than a year.
Asked what he will do when he sees them again, he said, "I am just going to hug them forever."