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'We owe this to our father'
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
© St. Petersburg Times,
Mrs. Kuhlman never showed them the yellow newspaper stories hidden in a file with her father's death certificate. A few months ago, Mrs. Kuhlman decided it was time to tell her 12-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter before they found out by accident. She told them them their grandfather, St. Petersburg contractor Jesse "Woody" Woodward, was kidnapped in 1977. She told them their grandfather was shot in the back of the head after being forced to kneel in the mud. His killers are serving life terms. Today, Charles W. Malone Jr., 48, who prosecutors say fired the fatal shot, gets his first chance at parole in a Tallahassee hearing. At first, Mrs. Kuhlman couldn't bear to face the Florida Parole Commission to relive the horror. But her son asked her, "What if you were killed and nobody showed up to talk about you?" The St. Petersburg homemaker promised her son she would go. So as the Parole Commission considers whether to release Malone, Mrs. Kuhlman, 38, and her brother, Wade Woodward, 41, will be there to tell board members that he should never be free again. "We owe this to our father, and we owe it to ourselves," said Wade Woodward, a St. Petersburg resident who is a production planner with Raytheon. Malone is serving three life terms without parole for at least 25 years for Woodward's killing, in addition to the robbery and killing of another man. A parole examiner who interviewed Malone is recommending to the full commission that he not be set free until 2052, his 100th birthday. The Parole Commission isn't bound by that recommendation, though the commission chairman acknowledges Malone probably isn't going anywhere. Chairman Jimmie Henry said just two or three convicted killers have been paroled since 1997, and all those demonstrated a history of rehabilitation. Prison records show that Malone has been disciplined 27 times since his imprisonment for infractions ranging from fighting to drug possession.
A victim's family isn't taking any chances. "We want to go up there and be the voice of our father," Wade Woodward said. "This killer is still only 48. He's not some old man who can't feed himself. It's scary he could be freed." On July 14, 1977, Jesse Woodward, 41, left his St. Petersburg home to run some business errands. Malone and Freddie Lee Morris, now 54, were at the home of a Morris family friend when they saw Woodward come to the door. The pair, drug addicts with long criminal histories, thought he was a detective seeking Morris' arrest on a robbery charge. Woodward was there to collect a debt for a previous job. Morris later testified that the pair abducted Woodward when they realized he wasn't a detective and drove him to Tampa. Woodward pleaded for his life, asking the men to tie him up and leave him somewhere. Morris said Malone instead walked him into a muddy field and shot him. Malone bragged in jail, "I killed the dude." Woodward's body wasn't found for three months. The pair then used Woodward's car to rob an Ybor City Texaco station, beating to death attendant Manuel Tanner. Malone was later convicted in Tampa of robbery and two counts of first-degree murder. A judge sentenced him to death, though the sentence was overturned on appeal and a new trial ordered. Rather than be retried, Malone pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in exchange for a life sentence. Morris already had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was also sentenced to life. Morris isn't due for parole until 2006 because of other convictions. The Parole Commission won't confirm whether Tanner's family or Woodward's widow, Lynda Woodward, will attend today's hearing. Mrs. Woodward was the victim's second wife. Mrs. Kuhlman and Wade Woodward are children from their father's first marriage. Mrs. Kuhlman isn't sure she did the right thing in telling her children of her father's murder. She told her son more than the younger daughter. She and son Kyle read the old newspaper clippings together. "I feel like I took away a little bit of his innocence," she said.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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Headlines From the Times local news desks Howard Troxler |
