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Thread: Michael Bragg Woolf - Alabama Death Row

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    Michael Bragg Woolf - Alabama Death Row


    Angel Woolf and son Ayden




    Trial begins soon in mother-son slaying

    MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) - Jury selection is underway for Michael Woolf. He's accused of killing his wife and young son. It happened in March of 2008.

    Woolf is accused of capital murder. The state says he intentionally shot and killed his wife Angel and their two-year-old son Ayden.

    Authorities say their bodies were found in the couples mobile home off Schillinger Road in March of 2008.

    Woolf later surrendered at a gas station.

    During jury selection, Assistant District Attorney Jo Beth Murphree wanted to know how potential jurors felt about the death penalty.

    "I will be asking for it if he is found guilty. Do you have any reservations?" asked Murphree.

    More than one said they weren't sure they could "vote to take someone's life."

    "Um, I could try," answered one person.

    "Depends on the facts of this case, I could consider the death penalty," said another person.

    One woman said the case has haunted her and it hasn't even started.

    Murphree warned them of the gruesome nature of the crime and evidence they might see and hear in court.

    Murphree said the mother and son were shot under the chin.

    Potential jurors included a father of four, an MBA student, and a retired person.

    Defense Attorney Greg Evans plans to show Woolf isn't guilty of capital murder and didn't intentionally murder anyone.

    However, if he is found guilty, Evans will ask jurors to sentence Woolf to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Woolf has spent the last two and a half years behind bars.

    Opening statements are expected next week.

    Judge Rusty Johnson is presiding over the case.

    http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/crim...er-son-slaying

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    Mother-son murder trial continues

    MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) - The trial of a man who is accused of shooting his wife and toddler son to death continues. A crime scene investigator is on the stand in the Michael Woolf capital murder trial.

    The investigator is talking about the revolver found at the crime scene, missing two bullets.

    Woolf is accused of killing his wife Angel and their 2-year-old son Ayden.

    The jury has also been shown pictures of Michael the morning after the shooting. Woolf has a tattoo of a woman on his arm with the name Angel underneath it. The name Ayden is tattooed on his neck. Woolf is also wearing a bloody sock in one of the pictures.

    The Mobile County District Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty.

    http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/crim...rial-continues

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    Woolf murder trial enters Day 3

    MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) - The capital murder trial of Michael Woolf continued Wednesday. Woolf is accused of killing his wife Angel and their two-year-old son Ayden in March 2008. Their bodies were found in the couple's mobile home off Schillinger Road.

    A woman who works at a DNA testing center is on the stand. She testified that on March 3, Woolf came back to the DNA testing center. This was three weeks after he received the results of a DNA test that proved Ayden was his child.

    "I saw him pull in and I saw him get Ayden out of the car," said the witness.

    The woman said she was shocked to see that he came back.

    "He picked him (Ayden) up, they came in, I was standing in the front. He asked us to explain the results to him because he was a little confused about the results.

    "There was a 50 percent chance that an untested random Caucasian male could be the father, that was tripping him up. That is on every report," testified the woman.

    The woman testified to Woolf's demeanor the day he came back to the office.

    "He was very unsure of what was going on, and very confused about the results. He began to state to us that he was worried about other people saying things and questioning the paternity of the child," testified the woman.

    The woman said, under oath, she was nervous around Michael Woolf that day.

    "On the way out the door he said, 'Y'all just pray for me, said the woman.

    "You weren't scared around Michael?" the defense asked.

    "A little scared, more nervous," said the woman.

    Another DNA testing center worker is on the stand. She testified to seeing Ayden and Michael in the office on March 3.

    "Ayden never moved. He just stood next to his father. Ayden just kept looking up at his Dad," said the woman.

    The woman also testified that Michael Woolf never touched his son, and that he was shaking while holding the paper.

    "I was trying to explain the results of the test. He kept saying, 'I need to know what I need to do.' I gave him the card of an attorney. I was just trying to more or less get him out of the office. I was frightened.

    "When he left, he asked me did I believe in God, and that I needed to pray for him," testified the woman. "I had a bad feeling."

    The woman testified to when she heard Ayden was dead.

    "I just sat on my bed and cried. When I got to my office I called the police."

    The state contends Woolf intentionally shot and killed his wife and son.

    The defense argues Woolf didn't intentionally kill them. It says Woolf accidentally killed his son, and then shot his wife out of distress.

    The state is seeking the death penalty in this case.

    http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/crim...l-enters-day-3

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    Michael Woolf takes stand in trial over shooting deaths of wife, son

    MOBILE, Alabama -- Michael Woolf testified today that during a fight with his wife one night, he fired a single shot behind him to scare her, heard her scream, then turned to see his 2-year-old son lying on the floor.

    “We were both freaking out,” Woolf said, testifying in his own defense in his capital murder trial.

    Woolf, 32, is accused of killing Angel Woolf, 30, and their son Ayden, in their trailer home off Schillinger Road. He called 911 to report the shootings just after midnight on March 5, 2008.

    When asked by his defense attorney why he then shot his wife, Woolf said, “I don’t know.”

    “I would never hurt my son or any child,” Woolf said later. “I wouldn’t even spank Ayden.”

    Prosecutors said the father had grown obsessed over whether Ayden was his biological son after learning his wife had extramarital affairs, and he intentionally killed his family that night.

    The defense argued that the boy’s shooting was accidental, and Woolf then shot his wife in a heat of passion moment, which would constitute the lesser charge of manslaughter.

    On the witness stand, Woolf initially appeared calm, even as he described the night his wife and son died. As prosecutors questioned him, his answers grew more tense.

    In the weeks before the shooting, a paternity test had proved with more than 99 percent certainty that Woolf was, in fact, the boy’s father, according to earlier testimony.

    Woolf said he knew Ayden was his son, but he needed the proof on paper.

    As he left the testing facility, Woolf asked the employees to pray for him, according to testimony.

    “Why did you want them to pray for you?” asked Assistant District Attorney Jo Beth Murphree.

    “Why not?” Woolf said. “It’s good to pray. It’s good to have people pray for you.”

    “Was it because you knew you were on the verge of killing your family?” Murphree asked.

    “No,” Woolf replied.

    Meanwhile, he said, he was stressed over a recent prostate infection, his wife’s extramarital affairs, and that his wife had stopped cooking for him.

    The night of the shootings, Woolf said, he returned home after driving around and smoking marijuana. Earlier in the year, he got a .38-caliber revolver in a drug deal in Alabama Village, he said.

    He took the gun from his car and held it inside his baggy pants to hide it from neighbors as walked into his home, he said.

    Once inside, he said, he dropped his pants and took off his shoes — and his wife came screaming out of the bedroom.

    He said she grabbed his arms while he held the gun, and he jerked them away to fire the shot behind him.

    After the shootings, he said, he couldn’t handle seeing the blood, and he left. Before leaving, he touched his son’s legs and the boy stopped moving, he said.

    In her questioning, Murphree said that the revolver had been loaded with three bullets, when the gun could hold five bullets. When police found the gun, only two had been fired.

    She pointed to her chin and cheek, where Angel and Ayden had been struck, and she said one bullet was for his wife and another for his son.

    “You chickened out didn’t you?” she said, referring to the third bullet and an intention to kill himself after killing his wife and son.

    Woolf denied that he planned to do that.

    The defense is expected to continue presenting its case today in Mobile County Circuit Judge Joseph Johnston’s courtroom.

    http://blog.al.com/live/2010/10/upda...tells_jur.html

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    Michael Woolf murder trial: Lawyers put psychologist on stand to bolster mental defect defense

    Capital murder defendant Michael Woolf has battled a number of mental health problems throughout his life, which may help explain his behavior when he shot his wife and 2-year-old son in March 2008, a psychologist testified today.

    Thomas Bennett, hired as an expert witness to support the defense’s argument that Woolf is not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, testified that the defendant in the past had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities, bipolar disorder and substance abuse.

    In addition, Bennett told jurors, he added a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and antisocial behavior after meeting with him four times. He said he gave an IQ test to Woolf, who scored a 74, which is at the low end of normal.

    All that could explain why Woolf seemed “flat” when he testified Thursday, Bennett said. He also said it might explain why Woolf did not pick up his son and try to get him help after shooting.

    “I think the issue is he just didn’t have any clue what to do,” he said.

    Mobile County Circuit Judge Joseph “Rusty” Johnston sent jurors home after Bennett’s testimony. The defense subpoenaed Richard Henebry, a retired Mobile police corporal who was the scene commander when police responded on March 5 to Woolf’s trailer home off of Schillinger Road.

    Defense attorneys contend that the shooting of the boy was accidental and that the subsequently shooting of the wife was a crime of passion. They want Henebry to testify in order to resolve discrepancies among different officers as scene and to explain why the bodies appeared to have been moved. Woolf’s lawyers also want to ask him about a medic’s report that police denied him access to the scene.

    But Henebry told Johnston by phone this morning that he did not show up today because he forgot about the subpoena. The judge postponed the trial for Monday, when Henebry might appear from North Carolina.

    Then lawyers will deliver closing arguments.

    During cross-examination of Bennett by Assistant District Attorney Jo Beth Murphree, the psychologist acknowledged that he did not determine that the defendant was unfit for trial or was criminally insane.

    “He is certainly able to understand that participating in the death of another person is wrong,” Bennett testified.

    Murphree and Bennett also sparred over the psychologist’s conclusion that Woolf probably did not intend to kill himself after taking the lives of his wife and son — a theory that bolsters the prosecution’s theory of premeditation. Bennett testified that Woolf did not prepare the scene, speak to people for the last time, give away possessions or do other things that people contemplating suicide often do.

    About Bennett’s testimony that Woolf’s actions following the shooting suggest someone struggling to process intense emotions after a traumatic event, Murphree said, “It is equally possible that he was mad as heck and wanted her dead, isn’t it?”

    http://blog.al.com/live/2010/10/wool...der_trial.html

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    Michael Woolf convicted of capital murder in shooting deaths of wife, son

    MOBILE, Alabama -- A jury today found Michael Woolf guilty of two counts of capital murder for in the shooting deaths of his wife and 2-year-old son, court officials said.

    Woolf, 32, admitted to shooting Angel Woolf, 30, and their toddler son Ayden in their trailer home off Schillinger Road. He called 911 to report the shootings just after midnight on March 5, 2008.

    The jury must now decide whether to recommend a punishment of life in prison without parole or the death penalty.

    Circuit Judge Joseph Johnston will ultimately decide which sentence to impose.

    Last week, Woolf testified in his own defense that he accidentally shot his son during a fight with his wife. He said he then shot his wife in response, which his defense attorneys argued was manslaughter, not capital murder.

    The jury began deliberating yesterday after hearing closing arguments.

    Prosecutors say Woolf had grown obsessed over whether Ayden was his biological son after learning of his wife's extramarital affairs.

    http://blog.al.com/live/2010/11/mobi...nds_micha.html

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    Jury recommends death penalty in family slaying

    MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - A jury has recommended the death penalty for a man convicted of killing his wife and 2-year-old son.

    Michael Woolf, 32, was found guilty Tuesday of 2 counts of capital murder. He is expected to be sentenced in Mobile County Circuit Court on Jan. 27.

    Angel Woolf, 30, and Ayden Woolf were found shot to death inside their trailer home in March 2008. Michael Woolf's mother told jurors her son was a loving child who became troubled after his parents divorced. Defense attorney Jim Vollmer said Woolf dropped out of school in eight grade and suffered from substance abuse and psychological problems, and said his client did not deserve the death penalty.

    http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=13440159

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    Judge hears pleas for and against executing Michael Woolf but delays death penalty decision

    A Mobile County judge heard heartfelt pleas this afternoon for and against executing a man who killed his wife and 2-year-old son but did not decide the issue.

    Circuit Judge Rusty Johnston told attorneys for Michael Woolf and the prosecution that he would announce his decision on Feb. 17. The judge can sentence the 32-year-old Mobile man to die by lethal injection or to spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    A jury in November convicted Woolf on two counts of capital murder and then voted 11-1 to recommend that he get the death penalty.

    Relatives of victim Angel Woolf, some of whom wore T-shirts featuring pictures of her and her son, said they were disappointed that Johnston did not make a decision today.

    Angel Woolf’s sister, Amy Falcon, made her family’s preference clear.

    “The night Angel and Ayden died, a piece of me was killed inside,” she told the judge. “Our family is not the same and never will be. ... There is a mother and son who should be alive today, and our family should be complete.”

    Assistant District Attorney Jo Beth Murphree said it would be “trite” to add too much to Falcon’s statement. She did say, though, that Woolf’s crime was awful even when stacked up against other murder cases.

    “I think this is absolutely the worst of the worst,” she said.

    Reading from a statement, Woolf repeated his contention that he never meant to fire the fatal shots inside the family’s home off Schillinger Road on March 5, 2008.

    “There is not, nor will there ever be any winners concerning this matter,” he said. “This was never supposed to happen this way.”

    Murphree took issue with Woolf’s comments.

    “Even today, the defendant continues to refuse to take responsibility for his actions,” she said.

    Woolf’s mother, Lynn Tullos, said she is the only family her son has. She said his father disowned him some time ago.

    “Why did this happen? God only knows,” Tullos said. “Michael, just know I’ve loved you since the day you were born.”

    Defense attorney James Vollmer reminded Johnston that he is not bound by the jury’s recommendation. He urged the judge to consider a host of mitigating factors — the voices Woolf said he heard, his drug use at the time and his emotional state triggered by his belief that the child was not his.

    And, Vollmer pointed out, IQ tests show his client’s intelligence barely above mental retardation.

    “That’s why the Legislature vests the authority in you,” Vollmer told Johnston. “So you can look past the emotion.”

    The other defense attorney, Greg Evans, said a lifetime behind bars for Woolf to consider his actions would be the worst punishment.

    Not so, countered Murphree.

    “Death is the worst thing for him,” she said.

    http://blog.al.com/live/2011/02/judg..._and_agai.html

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    Michael Woolf sentenced to death for shooting wife, 2-year-old son

    A Mobile County judge today sentenced Michael Woolf to be executed for shooting his wife and 2-year-old son to death in their west Mobile home.

    Circuit Judge Rusty Johnston said that the slaying of Angel and Ayden Woolf "is not a murder mystery that is worthy of an Agatha Christie novel."

    There is no doubt, the judge said, that Woolf murdered his family, but he refuses to take full responsibility.

    "As human beings with free will, we our responsible for our own actions, and we must be held accountable for them," Johnston said before imposing a death sentence.

    Woolf shot his wife and young son inside their family's home off Schillinger Road on March 5, 2008.

    Woolf, who testified in his own defense, maintained that he never intended to kill them. He called 911 after the shootings and told a dispatcher that he'd killed his family and needed to go to jail.

    A jury in November convicted Woolf on 2 counts of capital murder, and then voted 11-1 to recommend that he get the death penalty.

    Angel Woolf and her 2-year-old son Ayden were found shot to death inside their home off Schillinger Road on March 5, 2008. The judge held a sentencing hearing earlier this month, listening to pleas for Woolf's life from his mother and requests for a harsher sentence from Angel Woolf's family.

    This afternoon, Johnston said he considered Woolf's "significant history" of criminal activity, including convictions for 3rd-degree burglary, 1st-degree receiving stolen property, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and domestic violence.

    Defense attorney Greg Evans said he'd hoped the judge would overturn the jury's recommendation and sentence him to life in prison without parole.

    "And now he has to meet his maker and stand in judgment," Falcon said.

    (Source: The Mobile Press-Register)

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    Alabama appeals court upholds 8 death penalty cases

    A state appeals court is refusing to overturn the convictions of eight inmates on Alabama’s death row.

    In cases from Jefferson County, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the convictions and death sentences of Justin White; William Bruce Marshal; Demetrius Avery Jackson; and Anthony Lane.

    The judges also refused to overturn the cases of Calvin Stallworth from Baldwin County and David H. Wiggins from Russell County.

    From Mobile County, the court upheld the convictions and death sentences of William John Zeigler and Michael Bragg Woolf.

    Woolf was convicted of killing his wife and their 2-year-old son. While the court upheld his case, the court did tell a judge to clarify a sentencing order.

    The eight cases represent 4 percent of all the 197 inmates on death row in Alabama.

    http://cbs42.com/2014/05/02/alabama-...penalty-cases/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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