Woman Gets 4 Years For Husband's Shooting In North Austin

AUSTIN, TX — A Travis County jury sentenced a woman to four years in prison for shooting her husband last year, the district attorney's office announced on Saturday.

Julie Mikele Ward, 50, was found guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in a verdict handed down on Feb. 14 in the 331st District Court before Judge Chantal Eldridge.

According to police, Ward on May 14, 2019, insisted on arriving to her estranged husband's house in North Austin for help with her car even though the couple had been separated for more than a year. As the man poured coolant into the woman's car, prosecutors said, Ward retrieved a loaded gun from her backpack and fired one shot at the man.

The shooting victim ran inside his home while screaming Ward was trying to kill him, prosecutors said, before Ward fled the scene and throwing the firearm onto Mopac Expressway along the way. Despite her flight, Ward was arrested that night, the DA's office said.

The jury deliberated for less than an hour to convict Ward. Travis County Assistant District Attorney Jaustin Ohueri prosecuted the case, according to the district attorney's office.