Whitfield county residents are left to wonder tonight--- who is the real "Sonny" Neal?
Adolph "Sonny" Neal was arrested and charged last summer with the brutal murders of his wife, and her father.
Tuesday afternoon, he was in front of a judge.
His attorney told a judge this afternoon that there were some unusual circumstances that led the usually mild-mannered man to commit murder.
He came to court today to admit the crime and plead guilty.
The courtroom was packed as Superior Court Judge William Boyette prepared to accept the plea from Neal.
Whitfield county District attorney Bert Poston spoke first, explaining that an agreement had been reached with Neal's attorney Marcus Morris.
It provided for the 49 year old Neal to plead guilty to two counts of 1st degree murder.
His 27 year old wife, Jessica was stabbed to death----her grandfather , 69 year old Don Shedd was beaten to death.
They died early on the morning of May 24th at the Neal home in Dawnville.
After the judge questioned Neal about the plea bargain, he passed sentence.
Attorney Morris, says Neal had been under a lot of stress before the killings, and was taking medication and drinking.
MARCUS MORRIS, NEAL'S ATTORNEY "Its been my experience that when you have this combination of Zanex and alcohol...that people sometimes do really bazaar things...and it takes them a while to reconcile..when they are confronted with what their deeds are."
The family of Jessica Neal told us they were glad it was over.
But they saw Neal in a totally different light.
DONNA PATTERSON, JESSICA'S MOTHER "He took our daughter, he took our grandaughter's momma..he took my daddy ..So yeah, I think justice was just and then when God Almighty ..He has his vengence and I think that will be the Almighty..right now I just want him to get out of here and leave us all alone ..Let us have some type of closure."
The two life sentences will be served concurrently, and without the possibility of parole.
