[StBernard] Husband convicted of killing wife

[Westley Annis]

Husband convicted of killing wife
Burning case is first jury trial since storm 
Saturday, January 27, 2007
St. Bernard bureau

The first jury convened for a criminal trial in St. Bernard Parish after
Katrina this week convicted a man accused of burning his wife to death in
front of her 5-year-old daughter. 

The 12-person jury deliberated for about an hour Wednesday before convicting
Roy Anthony Johnson of second-degree murder in state District Judge Robert
Buckley's court in Chalmette. 

Johnson was accused of second-degree murder in the death of his estranged
wife, Agena Woods, 35, whom he doused with a flammable liquid and set afire
in the bathtub of her Violet home in October 2001. 

 
Buckley said sentencing has been set for Feb. 27, but since second-degree
murder carries a mandatory life sentence that is largely a formality. 

Authorities said Johnson, who was 37 at the time of the crime, fled the
burning house with Woods' 5-year-old daughter, who witnessed the crime. He
dropped the child off at her uncle's house nearby and later was spotted
walking along St. Bernard Highway, where he was apprehended. 

Johnson and the child also suffered burns, authorities said. 

In January 2002 Buckley ordered Johnson sent to a state forensic hospital
for treatment after he was declared incapable of assisting his defense.
After receiving treatment, Johnson's trial was held up by Hurricane Katrina.


It has been tough to seat a jury because much of the parish's pre-storm
population of nearly 70,000 has been scattered since Katrina. 

"We were finally able to get the first jury," Buckley said Friday. "It's
been a difficult task."