The family of slain parolee Marchello D. Woodard has made a forceful demand as the Erie County District Attorney’s Office weighs whether to file charges against the state parole agent who fatally shot him on July 2.
Woodard’s relatives want “charges to be filed for murder. This is not negotiable,” the family said in a statement released five days after the killing.
Representatives of the family again alleged that Woodard’s death was tantamount to murder — a premeditated killing or an unpremeditated killing with malice — in a statement released on July 21 to announce a celebration of what would have been Woodard’s 44th birthday on July 22.
“Marchello Woodard,” according to the statement, “was deliberately and unjustly killed.”
A photo of Marchello D. Woodard is displayed during a celebration of what would have been his 44th birthday on July 22 in front of the Erie County Courthouse. A state parole agent shot and killed Woodard on July 2 in Erie.
If any charges are filed in the case, however, murder would be one of several options.
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A manslaughter charge would also be an option, particularly voluntary manslaughter — an intentional killing based on the offender’s mistaken belief that his or her life was in grave danger and that deadly force was warranted.
Self-defense could also come into play.
A number of factors must be considered in deciding whether or what kind of criminal charges should be filed over a killing, Sam Wiseman, a professor who teaches criminal law at Penn State Dickinson Law, said in an email.
“In general, not all intentional killings are murder,” Wiseman said. “Both the state of mind of the actor and the circumstances surrounding the killing are important.”
How would self-defense be factor in Woodard case?
If any charges are filed over Woodard’s death, the defense would almost be certain to argue self-defense, based on the information made public so far. The information includes a summary that Pennsylvania State Police released the day after Woodard was killed — a death that has generated protests calling for justice for Woodard, who was Black.
He was shot as he was in the driver’s seat of a car parked on East 27th Street between Parade and Wallace streets at around 9:45 p.m. on July 2. State police said the shooting happened after two parole agents approached the car to do a compliance check of Woodard, whose parole in a 2017 drug case was to expire in 16 days.
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“Parole Agents identified themselves and Woodard began to drive away, dragging a State Parole Agent in the process,” according to the state police’s statement. “The agent fired multiple rounds into the driver’s compartment of the vehicle before falling free of the vehicle.”
Friends and family members of Marchello D. Woodard, 43, victim of a fatal shooting by Pennsylvania parole agents on July 2, gather during a birthday celebration of his life in front of the Erie County Courthouse on July 22.
As the Erie Times-News has reported, search warrants filed in the case show state police found a “white powdery substance” in Woodard’s car, and that substance is being tested for drugs. Also being tested are a “white powder substance” and blue pills. State police found those items in clear bags inside a bag that Woodard’s girlfriend said she took from Woodard’s car immediately before he was shot, according to one of the warrants.
The girlfriend, Chamell Henderson, told state police that, right before the shooting, Woodard drove away as the parole agent was “grasping the vehicle to ensure that he did not fall off,” according to one of the search warrants.
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Henderson said she did not see the shooting, but heard three sounds that she believed to be gunshots. No gun was found in Woodard’s car, according to the search warrants.
The warrants do not name the parole agents, who have been placed on administrative duty during the probe.
Pennsylvania state parole agents do not wear body cameras, though the state Department of Corrections is in the process of buying them, a spokeswoman has said.
DA: Homicide ruling reflects ‘no legal conclusions’
District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz said her office and the state police are still investigating. Still pending are the results of toxicology tests for Woodard. Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook said the tests will take weeks to complete.
Cook ruled Woodard’s death a homicide on July 3. He said the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds to the chest.
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Hirz has not commented on what, if any, charges she might be contemplating in the case. She said in a statement on July 7 that the coroner’s homicide ruling does not equate to a charging decision.
Protesters hold signs and chant, “No justice, no peace,” at the intersection of East 21st and Parade streets in Erie on July 3, after the shooting of Marchello D. Woodard by a Pennsylvania state parole agent on July 2.
The homicide ruling “means that the death occurred at the hands of another person,” Hirz said in the statement. “It is the only classification available to the coroner under these circumstances, and it does not reflect any legal conclusions.
“We ask for the community’s patience as we continue this detailed investigation,” Hirz said. “We understand the public’s desire for answers, and we are committed to full transparency while protecting the integrity of the process. Once the investigation is complete, our office will determine whether criminal charges are appropriate based solely on the law and the evidence.”
Three types of murder in Pennsylvania
If Hirz were to file murder charges, her office would have to prove that the fatal shooting of Woodard was premeditated — a first-degree murder. Or the office would have to prove the killing was a third-degree murder — an unpremeditated killing done with malice, an extreme indifference to the value of human life.
In Pennsylvania, third-degree murder applies to a murder that is not first-degree murder or second-degree murder. Second-degree murder is a killing committed during a felony, such as a burglary.
After third degree murder comes manslaughter. It applies to a killing considered less culpable than murder.
Voluntary manslaughter and offender’s unreasonable belief
Manslaughter has two classifications: involuntary manslaughter, which is a first-degree misdemeanor, and voluntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony.
As the lesser of the two offenses, involuntary manslaughter applies to an unintentional killing that is the result of gross negligence or neglect.
Intent is part of voluntary manslaughter. The law allows for manslaughter to apply to two types of killings, said Wiseman, the law professor at Penn State Dickinson Law. He commented in general and made no remarks on Woodard’s case.
“An intentional killing is voluntary manslaughter if it is committed under a sudden and intense passion resulting from serious provocation by the victim,” Wiseman said. “Serious provocation is conduct or events that would excite an intense passion in a reasonable person.”
Under the second category, he said, “An intentional killing is also voluntary manslaughter if the perpetrator unreasonably believes the circumstances are such that they would justify the killing.”
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One example, Wiseman said, would be someone who unreasonably believes he or she had to kill someone in self-defense.
Justifiable self-defense means no crime results from an intentional killing, Wiseman said.
“An intentional killing is self-defense,” Wiseman said, “if the actor reasonably believes deadly force is necessary to protect himself or herself against death or serious bodily injury.”
He said self-defense does not apply if the actor provokes “the use of force against himself or herself in the same encounter with the intent to cause death or serious injury.”
Self-defense also does not apply, Wiseman said, if, subject to various exceptions, “the actor knows he or she can retreat with complete safety instead of using deadly force.”
Murder carries more severe penalties than manslaughter.
A conviction for first-degree murder in Pennsylvania carries a mandatory sentence of life in state prison with no parole. Third-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in state prison.
The maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter is five years in state prison. The maximum sentence for voluntary manslaughter is 20 years.
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com or 814-870-1813.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Marchello Woodard’s family wants a murder charge. Could that happen?