A father and son were sentenced in Columbia Friday for their roles in a shootout at a gun store, although they maintain it was self defense and said they plan to ask for a new trial.
Circuit Judge Claiborne “Buddy” McDonald gave Michael McCool, 32, the maximum prison term of 40 years each for two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of gun store owner Jason McLemore, 43, and his son Jacob McLemore, 17. The shooting happened on Jan. 23, 2016, at the now-closed McLemore Firearms in the Henleyfield community in rural Pearl River County.
Audy McCool, 67, Michael McCool’s father, received a 20-year sentence with 14 to serve for accessory after the fact to murder for putting the gun his son used in a car before police arrived, although Audy McCool told police where it was at.
A Pearl River County jury had convicted both McCools on Feb. 1 following a week-long trial.
They spoke at length during a pre-sentencing hearing at the Marion County Courthouse Friday. Melanie McLemore, widow and mother of the deceased, also spoke.
A dispute that began over a $25 charge between the McCools and Melanie McLemore, who was working the store register, led to her contacting her husband, who came in with their son shortly before the shooting. Exactly what happened is contested.
The McCools said that the McLemores were the aggressors and that they defended themselves after Jason McLemore first shot Audy McCool in the back and Jacob McLemore attacked Michael McCool with a machete. They also alleged during the court hearing that Melanie McLemore actually fired the fatal shot at her son when trying to shoot one of the McCools.
However, Melanie McLemore said in court Friday that the McCools ambushed her husband and son. She held up pictures of them before turning to look at Michael McCool and saying, “That’s what they looked like before they were gunned down by this man.”
Louis Moak, Jason McLemore’s brother, spoke first on behalf of the victims’ families. He said the family can’t have rest and asked for justice to be served.
“I think it was a senseless act over a $25 spring,” he said. “To take two lives for $25 is just unheard of.”
Several friends and relatives of the McCools then spoke on their behalf. Cynthia McCool, wife of Audy and mother of Michael, said she was very sad for the McLemore family but that her family has suffered, too. She said she and her husband had been married 47 years and that both her husband and son were business owners well liked by their customers.
She disputed that it was over $25.
“It didn’t happen because of $25. It happened because my family was shot first,” she said. “What happened that day was totally self-defense. Don’t believe the jury got that message for whatever reason.”
At least five others spoke on the McCools’ behalf, saying they were good Christian men and pleaded for leniency on their behalf.
Then Melanie McLemore spoke, detailing the loss she has felt. She said her daughter, who was 9 at the time of the shootings, is now in an institution because of the trauma and that her other son, who was 15 at the time of the shootings, has also suffered. She said she previously homeschooled them but she couldn’t do it and had to put them in public school.
“I’ll never know how they would have turned out because it has ruined their lives,” she said. “I don’t know if they’ll ever function normally. I don’t know if I’ll ever function normally.”
She said her husband never had problems with customers until that day and tried to make his customers happy. If someone owed $50 and just had $40, he would tell them not to worry about the rest, she said.
She said the McCools had screamed and cussed at her before her husband arrived and made “subtle threats” along the lines of “I’m going to talk to him, all right.”
“My husband and my son were worth $12.50 apiece? That’s a sad statement,” she said. “They know what they did. The evidence bears it out.”
She asked for the McCools to receive the maximum sentence.
Michael McCool then spoke, saying “I never intended to save my dad’s life that day and my life that day to lose it in prison.”
He said he was beaten seven or eight times with a machete and shot in the back of the head. He said the bullet that killed Jason McLemore was shown to come from his gun. He said the bullet that killed Jacob McLemore was shown to not have come from his gun nor Jason McLemore’s gun, although Judge McDonald said it was just that it couldn’t be determined what gun it came from, not that it was absolutely not one of those two.
“The only person that had any piece of an odd of shooting me was Melanie McLemore. She also shot and killed her son,” Michael McCool said.
He said police never found that gun but said Melanie McLemore had a gun behind the register. He criticized several other elements of the investigation.
Testimony at the trial indicated six shots were fired: Five from Michael McCool’s weapon and one from Jason McLemore, which apparently didn’t hit anyone and passed through a booth and product rack in the business, while Jacob’s gun was still secured in its holster fully loaded, according to a story about the trial by the Picayune Item.
Judge McDonald asked Friday why Melanie McLemore didn’t finish the McCools off after her husband and son were dead and both of the McCools said they were seriously injured. Michael McCool said she had “tunnel vision” and started screaming because she couldn’t believe what she just did.
He also said both he and his father had $25 in their wallets in case they didn’t take credit cards and that the shooting was not over money. He said no amount of money could make him kill anybody but that the only reason he would do it was if someone was trying to kill him and his father.
He denied cursing Melanie McLemore but said Jason McLemore had become enraged after she called her husband when the McCools were in the store. He said Jason McLemore had Audy McCool in a headlock and pressed a gun into his back before shooting Audy McCool in the back, which Michael McCool said was the first shot.
He compared himself to Jesus and Job as an innocent man being punished.
“The jury got this completely wrong,” he said. “I don’t deserve any of this.”
Audy McCool spoke next, calling it a “ridiculous investigation with pre-determined outcomes.” He said Jason McLemore had given them a free estimate and they had a verbal agreement not to incur any charges until they had a full estimate on the repair of a gun belonging to his son. He said he had owned an air conditioning business for over 30 years and had lost thousands of dollars at times from customers but had never threatened or tried to shoot anyone.
He said he intervened between pushing and shoving between his son and Jason McLemore and that’s when he said Jason McLemore put him in a headlock and shot him in the back. He said six shots were fired over 10 to 15 seconds.
“I can’t fathom how this happened,” he said.
He said there was no skin left on his back after being shot and that it took him six months to recover.
He also said police didn’t have the full text records of what Melanie McLemore sent her husband, only a screenshot of her phone taken several hours after the shooting. He said investigators also didn’t collect video of the incident because they were told it didn’t work.
Audy McCool said he only put his son’s gun in the car to try and save more lives. He said he threw it in the car as police were coming, didn’t cover it up and told them where it was.
He said if he and his son had the intention of killing the McLemores, they would not have been shot and stabbed themselves.
“We were the real victims,” he said.
Audy McCool said his lawyer, Adam Miller, didn’t bring enough evidence and recommended he not take the stand during the trial, which McCool said he regretted.
Judge McDonald said he had told both of the McCools during the trial that both of them could testify, neither of them could testify or one of them could testify and that the decision would be up to them in the final analysis. He said after reading the pre-sentencing report he could see why their attorney might have some concerns over them testifying and being subject to cross examination.
Miller, who was standing by McCool’s side, spoke up and said he told Audy McCool it was solely his choice about testifying but gave McCool his legal opinion.
Assistant District Attorney Clay Cranford objected to what he said were false allegations of manufacturing evidence by Audy McCool and asked those remarks be stricken from the record. Cranford also said that reports were read during the trial of what Michael McCool said to investigators on two occasions and that a 911 call from Audy McCool was also played.
“None of that matched up and that was all submitted to the jury,” Cranford said.
Judge McDonald said the facts were decided by the jury, not him. He also said the McCools had 10 days to file a motion for a new trial and spoke with the attorney who is handling their appeal, Harry Ward.
