(June 13, 2008)—A jury Friday in Lampasas County convicted Chaka Romain Johnson of Lampasas of capital murder for his role in a July 4, 2007 shooting outside a Veterans of Foreign Wars post that left a Central Texas woman dead.
Prosecutors had waived the death penalty.
Johnson was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors said he was the gunman in an alleged murder-for-hire scheme that targeted Gower, whose husband Donald is scheduled to go on trial in Lampasas on Aug. 25.
Hidi Gower was gunned down in the parking lot of the VFW hall in Kempner.
She was airlifted to Scott & White Hospital in Temple where she died shortly after arrival.
Police later arrested Johnson and her husband on warrants charging capital murder.
Lampasas County Sheriff Gordon Morris said the motive for the slaying was a life insurance policy.
“Once an agreement was made, Donald Gower and his wife drove to the Kempner VFW to play in a pool tournament,” Morris said after the killing last year.
“At around 9:00 p.m., Donald sent his wife to their vehicle in the parking lot to obtain an item from the vehicle.”
After she failed to return, Morris said, “Gower sought help from another patron to help locate his wife. She was found lying beside their vehicle in a pool of blood.”
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