Not guilty of murder, man pleads to illegal gun

Following two days of trial, a Comanche County jury acquitted a 62-year-old Lawton man of first degree murder.

On Wednesday, Johnny Clifton Taylor was found not guilty of the murder count for the Jan. 25, 2023, shooting death of Joe E. Sawyer Jr.

However, Taylor voluntarily pleaded guilty to a felony count of possession of a firearm after former felony conviction. Records indicate Taylor has a June 1994 conviction in the 173rd District Court of Texas for aggravated assault causing great bodily injury.

Sentencing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Dec. 18 before Comanche County Presiding District Judge Emmit Tayloe.

Taylor admitted to shooting Sawyer in the left chest, killing him in the living room at 1102 NW Birch. Taylor said he’d become tired of Sawyer and a woman arguing and being loud in the living room, the probable cause affidavit states. He said Sawyer became aggressive when confronted and struck him several times atop the head with brass knuckles. That’s when Taylor said he retrieved his Luger semi-automatic pistol from its lock box in his room and returned to the living room where he fired “several shots in the floor of the living room,” the affidavit states. When Sawyer came toward him, Taylor said he shot him in the chest.

Taylor remains in custody of the Comanche County Detention Center.