HOUSTON – The trial of a woman accused in taking part in her lover's wife's murder resumed Thursday after a mistrial was reversed.
Rev. Tracy Burleson's wife, Pauletta, was shot to death at their home on Greenloch Lane near Greenrock Lane in northeast Harris County on May 18, 2010.
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Prosecutors said Tracy Burleson paid his son, William Darnell Fuller, 21, $2,000 to kill Pauletta Burleson.
Detectives said Tracy Burleson's mistress was also in on the killing. Tyonne Palmer, 32, was charged with capital murder and tampering with evidence.
Fuller testified in Palmer's trial Wednesday, but he became agitated during the testimony and began yelling and pointing at Palmer.
Palmer's attorney, Anthony Osso, asked for a mistrial and it was later granted, but he withdrew that request and the judge determined that the trial would resume.
"It's ridiculous, the way that they are badgering him," Pauletta Burleson's sister, Joyce Bingham, said of how Fuller was being treated on the stand.
Fuller took the stand again Thursday. He made several outbursts again and used profanity.
There was not a motion for a mistrial Thursday. The judge ordered a recess instead.
"It seems like certain things that occur in the courtroom, questions that are asked, if he does or doesn't like the question it triggers an unruly response," Osso said. "He gets off track a little bit, and he's not an easy witness. I think that's saying it mildly."
Fuller told the jury that he was abused as a child, forced to sleep outside and was beaten by his father and his stepmother, Paula Burleson.
Fuller was excused from the witness stand just after 2 p.m.
The trial may last another week.
Tracy Burleson was convicted of capital murder in September.