WACO, Texas (KWTX) – Testimony is scheduled to begin Tuesday morning in the trial of a Waco woman accused of orchestrating a fatal shooting in November 2020.

Margaret Stewart, 32, is on trial in 19th District Court in Waco on a charge of first-degree felony aggravated assault in the shooting death of Bryan Johnson.

Johnson, 33, was shot in the head while sitting in a car in the 1900 block of JJ Flewellen Road.

Stewart is charged with murder and aggravated assault in the fatal shooting. However, prosecutors Will Hix and Rebeckah Lawson chose to go to trial only on the aggravated assault charge, which carries the same sentence range as murder, from five to 99 years to life in prison.

Stewart is represented by Waco attorney Jack Hurley. A jury was selected Monday to hear the case.

According to arrest records, Bryan Johnson allegedly stole a gun and drugs from Stewart, and she called Berry Raydell Freeman to “help her get her stuff back.”

She picked up Freeman and Tamarium Lashawn Johnson and drove to a convenience store at JJ Flewellen and Calumet Avenue, which an arrest affidavit described as “a known hangout” for Johnson. They saw Johnson’s vehicle at the store around 7 p.m., drove around the block and drove by the store a second time, the affidavit states.

Freeman fired shots from the vehicle, a .380 round hitting Johnson in the back of the head, police said.

Freeman was arrested with a .380 pistol. However, tests showed that it was not the weapon used to kill Bryan Johnson. Freeman, who was also charged with murder, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter in September 2022.

Tamarium Johnson, 25, is also charged with murder and aggravated assault in the incident. Those charges remain pending, along with two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of theft of a firearm, according to court records.

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