Wendell Edwards' 5 p.m. update

HOUSTON--A jury heard emotional testimony Thursday in the trial of a man accused of killing Houston Police Officer Rodney Johnson.

The panel heard form Officer Johnson’s widow.

She is also an officer.

Joslyn Johnson was only up there for a minute before she broke down.

Her testimony was brief, but it was also powerful.

At times she had to pause just to hold herself together.

Joslyn and her husband, Rodney, were married on and off for seven years.

They were a family up until Sept. 21, 2006.

That’s the day Rodney Johnson was shot and killed.

Joslyn told jurors about the last time she saw her husband alive.

She said, “That morning when I left for work. He had worked late. He was laying on the couch. I kissed him on his forehead.”

She also talked about the moment she learned her husband had been shot and killed.

Johnson says she only learned of her husband’s death when she arrived at the hospital.

“They would not let me see him. They told me he had already expired. The medical staff nor the police department would allow me to see him because he was too bloody,” she said.

The man accused of Rodney Johnson's murder, Juan Quintero, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

He showed no emotion as Joslyn Johnson testified.

The widow broke down again after identifying her husband’s autopsy picture.

“It’s traumatic having to look at a picture of Rodney in his condition after this happened,” said Bobby Roberts. “That’s pretty traumatic.”

Roberts was Rodney Johnson’s best friend.

He says that even in death Rodney is larger than life. “Rodney touched everybody. It didn’t matter who you were or where you from. Rodney touched you.”

The defense did not cross-examine Johnson.

But before her testimony the defense, again, objected to the number of police officers in the courtroom and suggested their presence is intimidating.

The judge again overruled the objection.

Right after prosecutors rested their case Thursday, defense lawyers immediately started presenting their temporary insanity case.

Quintero’s brother was their first witness.

He described his brother, Juan, as mentally unstable.

After lunch, the jury never made it back inside the courtroom.

That’s because the judge was hearing from a neuropsychologist that the defense had flown into Houston.

The judge wanted to make sure if and what the jury should hear about that expert’s testimony.

The case will resume Friday.

The defense is expected to take a week presenting its case.

11 News reporter Wendell Edwards is blogging from inside the courtroom.