Postponed murder trial of Bellmead man to begin Monday

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - The capital murder trial of a Bellmead man that was postponed two weeks ago after a juror got sick is set to resume Monday morning in Waco’s 54th State District Court.

Testimony is set to begin in the trial of Johnny Alvin Wilson, who is charged with killing his mother-in-law and father-in-law during a family cookout in May 2020.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys selected a panel of 12 jurors and one alternate juror Oct. 10 and had expected to start testimony the following day. However, Judge Susan Kelly postponed the trial after a juror exhibited COVID-like symptoms and missed court on Tuesday.

Wilson, 39, is charged in the shooting deaths of Rachel Strickland, 40, and Christopher Wilson, 42, outside a home in the 4700 block of Florida Street.

Bellmead police said a group of family members were gathering at the home for a cookout when a “confrontation” erupted.

According to court documents, the victims’ 16-year-old daughter reported she was in the pool when Wilson came out of the house with a gun and shot her father and then her mother.

The girl said she ran after Wilson pointed the gun at her and told police she was injured while jumping a fence to escape. She ran to a neighbor’s house, officials have said.

Johnny Wilson’s wife and infant son were in the home when Bellmead police and officers from other agencies were called to the scene, Bellmead police said.

The state is not seeking the death penalty. If Wilson is convicted of capital murder, he will be sentenced to an automatic life prison term with no hope for parole.

Wilson, who remains jailed under bonds totaling $2.3 million, was convicted of murder in 2003 in Union County, Arkansas, according to court documents. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with five of those years being suspended.

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