BY MATTHEW HAMILTON • MHAMILTON@MONROE.GANNETT.COM • JANUARY 31, 2010
Harold Johnson, a 50-year-old Monroe man accused of bludgeoning his wife to death, was found guilty as charged of second-degree murder Saturday night.
The 12-member jury returned the verdict following six days of trial and four hours of jury deliberation. The verdict carries an automatic sentence of life in prison without benefit of probation or parole.
Fourth Judicial District Attorney Jerry Jones, who prosecuted the case alongside assistant DAs Josephine Heller and Cindy Lavespere, called the decision a just and well thought out verdict.
"This was a very heinous and very horrible crime," Jones said after the verdict was announced, "but justice was served. The jury took a long time in deliberation, I think to the credit of the defense attorney and an indication of the nature of these cases."
In the opening remarks of the trial, defense attorney George Britton conceded his client killed his wife, Linda "Gail" Johnson. But Britton asked the jury to return a verdict of manslaughter in the case, a lesser homicide charge that carries a maximum of 40 years in prison. The jury's deliberation, which at times grew loud enough to be heard in the courtroom, hinged on whether Harold Johnson had killed his wife in the heat of passion.
Britton began the last day of trial by calling the defendant to witness stand in his own defense. In answering his attorney's questions, Johnson led the courtroom through his history with "Gail," the child they conceived in high school, the cocaine habit he fought and succumbed to after 20 years when the child died and when he tried to reunite with her. He described the heated arguments with his wife over drugs, women and money.
On the night he murdered his wife, Johnson testified she brought up one woman Johnson had been seeing and accused her of having AIDS.
"I said, 'Gail, if she's got AIDS, guess who else got AIDS,'" Johnson said.
After that comment, Johnson claimed his wife reached over in bed to get a weapon in her purse, prompting him to beat her with a bottle of gin that was to be their anniversary gift. The defendant said he cleaned up the murder scene because he didn't want his grandchildren to see all the blood.
In his cross-examination, Jones attacked the details of Johnson's testimony, questioning why he let her bleed out, why a dress he claimed she wore had no blood on it and why his testimony on the stand contradicted a recorded phone transcript where he claimed he hit her.
With a stand-in gin bottle, Jones showed the court how Johnson wielded the murder weapon. He showed pictures of the ditch where Johnson had dumped her body. He showed pictures of a "defensive wound" the wife suffered on her hand during the beating.
"When you hit her that first time and she screamed, at that point you could have stopped, couldn't you?" Jones asked Johnson.
"If I thought of it, I could have stopped," Johnson answered.
In the end, the jury decided Johnson had his reason when he killed his wife. Jones called it a verdict Linda "Gail" Johnson deserved.
"No one deserves to be thrown to the side of road, dumped like garbage," Jones said. "The right verdict was reached."
Defense attorney says client killed wife in the heat of passion
BY MATTHEW HAMILTON • MHAMILTON@MONROE.GANNETT.COM • JANUARY 28, 2010
Harold Johnson’s attorney said in an opening statement today that his client killed his wife in August 2008 and he acted in the heat of passion.
Defense attorney George Britton asked the 12-member, 4th District Court Jury to focus on Harold and Linda Gayle Johnson’s 20 years of marriage. He suggested the couple’s relationship was difficult and volatile.
Harold Johnson is charged with second-degree murder and faces life in prison. Britton told jurors evidence in the trial will show that he acted in the heat of passion and that jurors should return the lesser verdict of manslaughter.
District Attorney Jerry Jones, who is leading the team of prosecutors, told jurors that evidence would support the second-degree murder charge.
Harold Johnson is accused of bludgeoning his wife to death and then dumping her body in a ditch south of Interstate 20 off Parker Road.
Jones said the type and number of wounds on the victim’s body indicated the defendant had opportunity to consider what he was doing while beating the victim.
Jones described the victim as a woman of habit and a meticulous housekeeper.
When Linda Gayle Johnson became missing, Jones said her family became suspicious when they went to her home on North McGuire Avenue in Monroe and found cleaning items out of place and Harold Johnson, who stayed in the bedroom.
Jones said when Harold Johnson left the bedroom one family member went inside, found blood on the mattress and screamed. Harold Johnson fled.
The trial resumes this afternoon with testimony.
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