May 14, 2008, 10:31AM

Friends, family sob as they testify about slain officer's life

By BRIAN ROGERS
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

An emotional day of testimony turned into a sparring match Tuesday as tempers ran short during the start of the punishment stage of Juan Leonardo Quintero's capital murder trial.

Despite his attorneys' pleas that Quintero is insane, jurors last week found him guilty in the 2006 shooting of Houston Police Department officer Rodney Johnson. Quintero faces a possible death sentence or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Early in the day, friends and family members sobbed as they talked about Johnson's life.

Rodney Johnson loved being a Houston police officer and he loved Christmas, family members told jurors.

"He just glowed," Johnson's sister, Susan Johnson, said on the stand. Even as she wept, she laughed about memories of her big brother waking the family on Christmas mornings.

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