The teenager accused in school shootings that left two classmates dead was convicted today of killing his mother before heading to school with a gun.
Luke Woodham, 17, was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing his mother, Mary, repeatedly and beating her with an aluminum baseball bat.
"I'm going to heaven now," said a handcuffed and shackled Woodham as he was led from the courthouse to a patrol car. "Everything happens for a reason. It's God's will."
Defense lawyers vowed to appeal. They sought to have Woodham declared insane, painting him as a vulnerable youth who was easily influenced by others, several of whom are charged with plotting the school shootings.
Under state law, Woodham will not be eligible for parole until he is 65 years old.
Jurors deliberated about three hours before convicting Woodham, who was tried as an adult, of murder. The case, which was moved here because of publicity, began Monday. Woodham stood expressionless as the verdict was read and declined to say anything before being sentenced.
MISS. TEEN GIVEN LIFE IN MURDER OF MOTHER
By Jay HughesJune 6, 1998
The teenager accused in school shootings that left two classmates dead was convicted today of killing his mother before heading to school with a gun.
Luke Woodham, 17, was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing his mother, Mary, repeatedly and beating her with an aluminum baseball bat.
"I'm going to heaven now," said a handcuffed and shackled Woodham as he was led from the courthouse to a patrol car. "Everything happens for a reason. It's God's will."
Defense lawyers vowed to appeal. They sought to have Woodham declared insane, painting him as a vulnerable youth who was easily influenced by others, several of whom are charged with plotting the school shootings.
Under state law, Woodham will not be eligible for parole until he is 65 years old.
Jurors deliberated about three hours before convicting Woodham, who was tried as an adult, of murder. The case, which was moved here because of publicity, began Monday. Woodham stood expressionless as the verdict was read and declined to say anything before being sentenced.
A woman juror sobbed after the trial and said hearing the case had been difficult. "I never, never want to do this again," said the bespectacled woman with graying hair, who declined to identify herself.
Hours after killing his 50-year-old mother on Oct. 1, Woodham allegedly went to Pearl High School, where he was in the 11th grade, pulled a rifle from under a trench coat and shot nine students. His former girlfriend and another student were killed and seven others were wounded.
Woodham faces a second trial beginning Monday in the school shootings, a case that is similar to others at schools nationwide.
Woodham broke into tears as Assistant District Attorney Tim Jones repeatedly described Mary Woodham's murder as a deliberate, planned act. "He's mean. He's hateful," Jones said of Woodham in closing arguments. "He's bloodthirsty. He wanted to kill her. Murder was on this boy's mind."
Testifying through sobs Thursday, Woodham said he woke up the day of the killings taunted by demons. He recalled taking a knife to his mother's room, all the while hearing an older teenager's voice in his head. But Woodham said he does not remember killing his mother.
"I just closed my eyes and fought with myself because I didn't want to do any of it," he said. "When I opened my eyes, my mother was lying in her bed dead."
Defense lawyers put on their case in one day Thursday, centering on claims Woodham was not responsible for his actions because he is mentally ill and that he was under the control of Grant Boyette, 19.
Police say Boyette led a cult-like group that included Woodham. The group was named after either the devil-worshiping "Kroth" or the "Krath," characters from "Star Wars" comic books. Several members of the group, including Boyette, face conspiracy charges in the school shootings.
"I remember I woke up that morning and I'd seen demons that I always saw when Grant told me to do something," Woodham told jurors. "They said I was nothing and I would never be anything if I didn't get to that school and kill those people." He did not, however, specifically testify that Boyette ordered his mother's death.
In a videotaped confession played for jurors earlier in the trial, Woodham said: "I didn't want to kill my mother. . . . I just wanted her to understand." A defense medical expert testified Woodham suffered from a variety of psychological problems, and that Boyette was able to exploit him.
But two prosecution experts said they believe Woodham was sane at the time of the killings.
"He is not so wrong that I would consider him to have a major mental disorder," said Reb McMichael, psychiatrist at the state hospital where Woodham was examined. CAPTION: Convicted of killing his mother, Luke Woodham, 17, center, will be tried for allegedly killing two students and wounding seven at his high school.
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Subject: the most obscure shooter of all. Luke Woodham 
Wed Apr 26, 2023 10:42 am
