A little more than 11 months ago, DeAndre Neal-Hill sent a handwritten letter to Ramsey County District Judge Rosanne Nathanson from the county workhouse, where he was serving a six-month sentence for a probation violation.

"I know I have made some terrible choices and bad decisions," he wrote, "but I know I'm a better person then how it looks an seems. I just want to get out an start my life completely over."

Neal-Hill talked about his older brother, Kerry M. Neal-Hill, who had been shot to death three weeks earlier and how much he regretted not being able to comfort his parents and his two remaining brothers. He talked about going back to school, getting a part-time job and chasing "my dream of getting a degree in X-ray technician as planed."

He was released in June 2008 after serving his time, but this week Neal-Hill's dreams were put on hold indefinitely when he was charged in Ramsey County with first-degree attempted murder, drive-by discharge of a firearm, two counts of second-degree assault and possession of a firearm by a felon. The charges are all felonies.

Firing shots at rivals

The complaint filed Monday said Neal-Hill, now 21, was one of several men allegedly trading shots with rival gang members on April 5 on St. Paul's East Side.

A man identified in court documents by the initials D.A.B. told police that Neal-Hill called him that day, saying that he was going to shoot him and that D.A.B. would be another "unsolved homicide."

D.A.B. and another person got into a red Monte Carlo, and while driving on Larpenteur Avenue toward Jackson Street, they saw a man identified as Lavalle Eugene Anderson firing shots at them. In another car, they saw Neal-Hill and Scott P. Christian, who also fired at them, D.A.B. told police, according to the complaint.

Neal-Hill and Anderson are members of the Selby Siders gang, police said. Anderson also has been charged with first-degree attempted murder.

Neal-Hill is being held in the Ramsey County jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

In the letter to Nathanson last May, Neal-Hill concluded, "I've realized life is to important an to short and I don't want to ever go through anything like this ever again a day in my life because jail is not for me. I have a lot of life ahead of me and goals to accomplish."

Neal-Hill's attorney, Lisa Hallberg, also wrote to Nathanson on his behalf. Her letter asked that he be released from the workhouse June 12, four days before his scheduled release, so that he could attend a family reunion in Missouri.

"He has had only a brief opportunity to grieve with his family," Hallberg wrote. "He would like the opportunity to be with his immediate and extended family at the family reunion."

Neal-Hill's criminal history includes convictions in Ramsey County for drug possession and fleeing police.

His brother, Kerry, 23, was gunned down while riding in a station wagon near Aurora Avenue and Avon Street on May 4, 2008. Terrell D. McCoy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and assault and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Pat Pheifer • 612-741-4992