Barrow woman convicted of murder, sentenced to life

WINDER - A woman who shot her husband last May was found guilty of murder Wednesday and sentenced to life in prison.

The jury deliberated for about three hours before finding Diane Elaine Hogsed, 46, guilty of malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, Assistant District Attorney Coy Johnson said. Hogsed was sentenced to life in prison for the murder, plus five years on the firearms conviction.

Hogsed shot her husband, 58-year-old Willis "Bill" Cecil Hogsed, in the front yard of the couple's home at 686 Hancock Bridge Road about 10:30 a.m. May 26. They had left the house to go fishing, then returned home where an argument ensued. Diane Hogsed took a gun from the couple's home, lawyers said, then came back outside where Bill Hogsed was and shot him.

The bullet entered the left side of Bill Hogsed's chest and went through his left lung, heart and right lung before exiting through the right side of his chest.

District Attorney Tim Madison told the jury Tuesday that Diane Hogsed had written about killing her husband in her journals and wanted revenge for being called names.

He called the couple "two of the most dysfunctional people you ever heard about in your life" and said "both knew where the other's scabs were and picked them," but that Bill Hogsed had simply gone too far with his wife the day he died.

Diane Hogsed also wanted money, Madison said, and would have collected $548,000 in disability checks if her husband died. He said Bill Hogsed had told his wife to leave earlier, and that she was upset about the possibility of losing the money if the couple got a divorce.

"It was a deliberate act of revenge," Madison said Tuesday. "One time, 3 feet away, almost point blank, she takes the life of her husband for disrespecting her."

Diane Hogsed's attorney, Wayne Burnaine, said during his closing statements that she had been abused by her husband and she suffered from battered woman's syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder. He contended that the gun had gone off accidentally, or that Diane Hogsed had reacted subconsciously when she saw her husband enter a pose that was common before he struck.

Madison said Diane Hogsed's journals showed Bill Hogsed had not been violent for the preceding 18 months.

The malice murder charge, on which Diane Hogsed was convicted, implies that she gave forethought to the crime and killed her husband intentionally, Johnson said. The jury also had the option of convicting her of felony murder, meaning Bill Hogsed's death resulted from a felony that Diane Hogsed was committing - such as aggravated assault - or voluntary manslaughter, meaning she had no intent to kill him.

Diane Hogsed will be held at the Barrow County jail until she is taken into state custody, Johnson said.