Hung Jury Leaves Land-Feud Murder Trial Undecided

By LAUREN GROVER
Staff Writer
QUITMAN — After seven hours of deliberation, visiting Judge Paul Banner announced a hung jury on Tuesday morning in the murder trial of William Burnard Kear, 64, of Winnsboro, who claimed self-defense in the shooting death of his neighbor, 63-year-old Norman Johnson.
Three women and nine men made up the jury that heard testimony and arguments during the seven-day trial. The re-trial could go before Judge Banner at the Judicial Center in Quitman as early as September, said bailiff and Wood County Sheriff’s Department deputy Shannon Love.
Kear shot and killed Johnson with a .22-caliber revolver on the afternoon of Oct. 4, 2006, on a dirt road connecting the farmers’ property near the 4000 block of North Farm Road 312, the prosecution and defense said.
Johnson — a self-employed farmer, trucker and rancher — was found dead on the side of the road at about 4:30 p.m. near his tractor, which was still running in low-gear neutral, its shredder still cutting, about 70 yards from the gate to Kear’s 100-acre field, investigators testified last week.
Kear pled not guilty by way of self-defense and claims Johnson sped at him, ramming his bigger tractor into Kear’s before he shot him out of fear for his life, said defense lawyer Clifford “Scrappy” Holmes. Sue Johnson, wife of 44 years to Johnson, cried and shook as closing arguments were given Monday morning.
“(Johnson) intended to come home and have lunch with his wife that day, to sleep in his bed that night,” said District Attorney Jim Wheeler. “William Burnard Kear took away all his tomorrows, and that ain’t right.”
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