Posted 9:02 am Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Land-Feud Murder Trial Ends First Day Of Testimony
By LAUREN GROVER
Staff Writer
QUITMAN - The feud of two Winnsboro neighbors climaxed when they met on a dirt road between pastures in October 2006, rammed tractors and one shot the other to death, two Wood County investigators testified Tuesday in the murder trial of William Burnard Kear.
Staff Writer
QUITMAN - The feud of two Winnsboro neighbors climaxed when they met on a dirt road between pastures in October 2006, rammed tractors and one shot the other to death, two Wood County investigators testified Tuesday in the murder trial of William Burnard Kear.
Judge Paul Banner presided over the trial's start Tuesday in the Judicial Center in Quitman where some 20 witnesses - including wives Debra Kear and Sue Johnson - were sworn in.
Kear, 64, shot and killed his neighbor, Norman Johnson, 63, with a .22-caliber revolver on the afternoon of Oct. 4, 2006, on Johnson's property near the 4000 block of North Farm Road 312, the prosecution and defense said.
The two men's land dispute escalated into a lawsuit they filed not long before the encounter. Kear was charged with murder on Oct. 5 and released on $25,000 bond that evening.
Kear is pleading not guilty by way of self-defense and claims Johnson sped at him, ramming his bigger tractor into Kear's before he shot Johnson, defense lawyer Clifford "Scrappy" Holmes said in his opening argument.
"Mr. Johnson yelled 'I'm going to take your (expletive) head off' and hit Mr. Kear's tractor with the blade of his bucket (loader)," Holmes said.
Johnson was found dead on his property at about 4:30 p.m. near his tractor that was still running in low-gear neutral, the shredder it dragged still cutting, about 70 yards from the gate to Kear's 100-acre field, Wood County investigator Miles Tucker testified.
Johnson was cold to the touch and two gunshot wounds were visible on his left-side torso near the shoulder blade and in his right arm, investigator Kelly Cole testified.
The sandy dirt on the road had no ruts or markings to indicate a scuffle between two heavy tractors, Tucker testified. Flakes of blue paint from the front end of Kear's tractor were found on the blade of Johnson's bucket loader, he said. It is not clear who hit whom, Tucker said.
District Attorney Jim Wheeler said in his opening statement that Johnson was shot in the back by Kear that day. Johnson's gunshot wound on his back left torso couldn't have been inflicted if the men were facing each other, Cole testified, but said it's hard to determine how their bodies were situated at the time of the shooting.
Johnson "harassed" Kear multiple times about his crossing Johnson's property to reach a 100-acre field he owned, Holmes said. But Kear could have avoided the confrontation by turning his tractor around or stepping off his tractor and moving into the pasture on one side of the road, Tucker testified.
After shooting him, Kear drove back to his home where he called 911 and told the operator he had shot a man, Holmes said. There was no evidence Kear helped Johnson or used Johnson's cell phone - which was found lying beside him - to call for help, Cole said.
Because Johnson was still wearing his baseball cap and sunglasses when he was found on the ground, it's likely he stepped off his tractor before falling, Tucker said.
No shell casings were found at the scene, no blood was on the tractor seat and Kear's revolver used to shoot Johnson was unloaded when it was later recovered from his home, Tucker said.
Both men - longtime residents of Wood County - owned hundreds of acres side-by-side and had been fighting for a long time, Holmes said.
