Donald Wilson bows his head during his murder trial Thursday at the Lincoln County Courthouse in Brookhaven.(Jon Giffin The Vicksburg Post)

[11/15/03]BROOKHAVEN A Warren County man wasfound him guilty of murder, aggravated assault and arson after jurors rejected an option to find him not guilty by reason of insanity.

Donald Wilson, 64, 1074 Riley Road, was found sane when the crimes were committed and was sentenced to life in prison in the Aug. 19, 2001, murder of Joe Hartzog, who was 56 and the boyfriend of Wilson’s ex-wife.

Wilson was also convicted of shooting and wounding his ex-wife, Patricia Wilson, 54, 385 Culkin Road; and setting on fire Hartzog’s truck with Hartzog’s body remaining inside. Warren County Circuit Court Judge Frank Vollor, who presided over the trial here, set Dec. 5 for sentencing of Wilson on those charges.

The jury deliberated more than three and a half hours, returning its verdicts at about 8:45 p.m. It rejected the options it was given of finding Wilson not guilty of any of the charges by reason of insanity, or guilty of manslaughter instead of murder.

Since the basic facts of the case were undisputed, the main question to be decided was whether Donald Wilson was legally insane when he committed the crimes, said Warren County assistant district attorney John Bullard in his closing argument to the jury.

Wilson, who was arrested by Warren County deputy sheriffs at the crime scene almost immediately and has remained in county custody since, gave a videotaped confession to the crimes a day later.

“Given (Wilson’s) statement and the statements from all of the state’s witnesses, there is no dispute about what happened,” Bullard said.

Bullard also highlighted that nearly a year had passed since the Wilsons’ divorce and about two years since their separation from each other.

“The evidence has shown that there was no sudden provocation to this,” he said.

Testimony and physical evidence Bullard presented during the week indicated that the crimes happened about 12:11 p.m. on Aug. 19, 2001, a Sunday.

Patricia Wilson said she and Hartzog were in the carport area of her home, where Hartzog was vacuuming the interior of his truck, when Donald Wilson drove up and approached her, a pistol concealed behind his back. From about five feet away, Donald Wilson shot and “grievously wounded” Patricia Wilson and then “outright executed,” Hartzog, assistant district attorney Bullard said in his closing argument.

Donald and Patricia Wilson had been married for 27 years when their divorce became final on Sept. 15, 2000. She testified that the two had separated in 1998, from which time she had retained possession of the house at 385 Culkin Road.

Wilson’s lead attorney, Pat McNamara, argued that the state had not met its burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Donald Wilson was of sound mind when he committed the crimes. The other member of Wilson’s defense team was Vicksburg attorney Jennifer Fortner.

“It is not our responsibility to show you that (Donald Wilson) was insane,” McNamara said. “It is Mr. Bullard’s responsibility to prove to you that he was sane.”

“He was sane,” Bullard said in response. “(Donald Wilson) stated himself he knew it was wrong.”

Donald Wilson had continued to live on the approximately 24 acres they had shared, in a mobile home about 300 yards from the house at 385 Culkin Road.

By the time of the shootings, he had moved to a separate mobile home about two miles away, testimony indicated.

About six months before the divorce became final, Patricia Wilson and Hartzog had become romantically involved, dividing their time about equally between their two homes, she said. The two had become acquainted in the 1980s through their work in related fuel-distribution companies, she said.

Donald Wilson first shot Patricia Wilson, through the abdomen, witnesses testified. She then fled and, as he fired again, a bullet plucked from her ear an earring she was wearing, Bullard argued.

Then he shot Hartzog, once through the upper chest and left arm and again in his head, state medical examiner Dr. Stephen Hayne testified. Either wound would have been fatal, Hayne said.

Wilson then doused Hartzog’s truck with gasoline from a plastic can he had brought to the home, and set Hartzog’s truck on fire. Donald Wilson’s .38-caliber pistol was recovered, burned, from Hartzog’s truck.

Wilson also doused his own truck with gasoline and lit it, but it was burned

less badly than Hartzog’s.

Moved away from Warren County in June, the trial began with jury selection here Monday before Judge Vollor. The jurors were from Lincoln County, of which Brookhaven is the county seat.

Two psychiatric experts testified Friday, one called by the defense and the other by the

prosecution. Also testifying was a Jackson psychiatric nurse who had participated in Donald Wilson’s treatment for depression.

The life sentence Donald Wilson received was the mandatory one for a murder conviction in Mississippi.