Luke Woodham

Infobox Criminal


subject_name = Luke Woodham
image_size = 200px
image_caption =
date_of_birth = birth date and age|1981|02|05
place_of_birth =
date_of_death =
place_of_death =
charge = Murder, attempted murder
penalty = Three consecutive life sentences and an additional 120 years
status = Incarcerated
occupation = Unemployed
spouse =
parents =

Luke Woodham (born February 5, 1981) is a convicted American murderer, and a former resident of Pearl, Mississippi, United States. He had instigated a school shooting at Pearl High School on October 1, 1997, which left three people dead, including his own mother, and seven injured. He is currently serving three life sentences with an additional 120 years.

Murder of Mother

On October 1 1997 Woodham, then 16, beat and stabbed his mother, Mary Woodham, to death. At his trial he said he could not remember killing his mother.

October 1: Shooting at Pearl High School

Woodham drove his mother's car to his high school. Wearing a long trenchcoatFact|date=May 2008, he made no attempt to hide his rifle. When he entered the school, he walked toward Lydia Dew and shot Dew and Christina Menefee, his former girlfriend. Both girls died. Pearl High School Band director, Jeff Cannon, was standing 5 feet from Dew when she was fatally shot. He went on to wound 7 others before Joel Myrick, the assistant principal, retrieved a .45 pistol from the glove compartment of his truck and subdued Woodham while he was trying to drive off campus. The outraged educator demanded "Why did you shoot my kids?". Woodham replied "Life has wronged me, sir" [Woodham Trial Archives [http://www.courttv.com/archive/trials/woodham/] ] .Minutes before he started the shooting, he gave the following message to a friend:

"I am not insane, I am angry. I killed because people like me are mistreated every day. I did this to show society, push us and we will push back. ... All throughout my life, I was ridiculed, always beaten, always hated. Can you, society, truly blame me for what I do? Yes, you will. ... It was not a cry for attention, it was not a cry for help. It was a scream in sheer agony saying that if you can't pry your eyes open, if I can't do it through pacifism, if I can't show you through the displaying of intelligence, then I will do it with a bullet." [ [http://www.alternet.org/story/50758/?page=3 Virginia Tech: Is the Scene of the Crime the Cause of the Crime?] , "20-04-2007". Ames, Mark. AlterNet.]

atanism

During the trial, Woodham admitted to being a Satanist, and that he got the idea to commit the murders after his involvement in Satanism. According to Woodham, his friend Grant Boyette invited Woodham to join his Satanic group, known as "the Kroth." He told Woodham that he had "the potential to do something great." Boyette promised that he could either get his ex-girlfriend back or get even through black magic Woodham said. [ [http://www.cnn.com/US/9806/11/school.shooting.03/index.html CNN - Woodham testifies he was involved in satanism - June 11, 1998 ] ]

Charges

Woodham was charged with three counts of murder and seven counts of aggravated assault. He confessed to shooting his classmates, but he claimed that he did not remember killing his mother. He pleaded insanity; the jury rejected the insanity defense and instead found him guilty. Woodham was sentenced to two life sentences with an additional 120 years.

A separate jury in Philadelphia, Mississippi, convicted Woodham of murdering his mother. He was given a third life sentence for that crime. Defense attorneys argued in both trials that Woodham was legally insane at the time of the killings.

Trivia

The short play series "Above the Fold" by Topher Payne includes a play entitled "The Day Luke Woodham Killed All Those People". It was based on interviews the playwright conducted with Woodham's former co-workers at a local pizza parlor. The play was first produced by Process Theatre Company in Atlanta, Georgia in 2008.

References

External links

* [http://www.courttv.com/archive/trials/woodham/ Court TV Online - Mississippi vs Woodham]
* [http://www.courttv.com/archive/trials/woodham/061298.html Woodham Updates (Final conviction)]
* [http://www.cnn.com/US/9806/12/school.shooting.verdict/ CNN - Teen guilty in MIssissippi school-shooting]
* [http://www.mdoc.state.ms.us/InmateDetails.asp?PassedId=R4682 Mississippi Department of Corrections file on Luke Woodham]