September 1 , 2005

JUSTICE FOR WOODY – YEARS AFTER THEY SHOT HIM DEAD IN CHURCH, THE POLICE WHO KILLED ROBERT WOODWARD MAY FACE A JURY – SOON.

By Eesha Williams - Valley Advocate

Photo courtesy of Quinn Kepes
Robert Woodward: Justice delayed, perhaps not denied. "I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution."
Thomas Jefferson

For decades, the percentage of all court decisions that are made by juries has been going down sharply in the United States, making the justice system more reliant on professional judges.

Why does that matter?

For one thing, judges and prosecutors work with police on a daily basis. So when it's time for a prosecutor to try to persuade a judge to send a cop to jail for unjustified murder or assault, the outcome is often predictable.

Until August 24 it looked as if the case of the Woodward family versus the Brattleboro Police Department would be another example of that phenomenon.

On Dec. 2, 2001, a local man, Robert "Woody" Woodward, walked into a Brattleboro church, interrupting Sunday morning services. Woodward, who was 37 and had no criminal record, held a small knife and threatened to cut himself.

A member of the congregation called 911. Brattleboro police officers Terrance Parker and Marshall Holbrook quickly arrived. Within minutes, in full view of the congregation, they had shot and killed Woodward.

The Woodward family filed a wrongful death suit. But over the next three years, decisions by a federal judge in Brattleboro, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Vermont Attorney General all went against Woodward's family's attempts to make the officers accountable for Woody's killing.

But on Aug. 24, a federal appeals court in New York City said it was wrong for the Brattleboro judge to reject the Woodward family's request for a jury trial.

The two-page ruling by judges Rosemary Pooler, Sonia Sotomayor and Edward Korman is available at www.uscourts.gov. It reads in part, "Four witnesses gave sworn statements that Woodward made no advances or threatening moves toward the officers or any bystanders before he was shot. ... Some witnesses who claim to have seen Woodward advance on the officers gave conflicting statements..."

The judges note that some witnesses estimated that Woodward--armed only with a small knife--was 20 feet from the cops when they shot him. Others said he was closer.

Officer Parker worked 97 hours of overtime in the month before he shot Woodward.

"There's no guarantee that a jury will decide differently than a judge in a police wrongful death case. But it is better to have people who live in the community with the police every day decide," says Jeffrey Abramson, author of We the Jury, published by Harvard University Press.

The mood of the Brattleboro community was revealed when residents here voted 1,566 to 933 last year in favor of creating a civilian board to investigate complaints against the police.

Protests organized by the group JusticeforWoody.org have called for Brattleboro to train its police in the use of non-lethal weapons and other means of dealing with mentally ill people.

The Woodward family's lawyer, Brattleboro native Joel Faxon, sounded jubilant after the ruling.

"During the jury trial the Brattleboro Police Department's improper procedures will come to light," he predicted. "When the public becomes aware, they will demand reforms. People in Brattleboro need to know that what happened to Robert Woodward won't happen again."

Faxon said he expects a jury will consider the case within six months.

If the jury rules in favor of the Woodwards, they will likely get money from the town. The earlier decisions meant that no one would even have to pay a fine for killing Robert Woodward.