Criminal
Aug. 2, 2002
Man Pleads Not Guilty in Decade-Old Murder
SAN BERNARDINO - Robin Woods, a 25-year-old Rialto man whose confession to a 1992 murder threw his case into a legal quandary because of his age at the time of the crime, has pleaded not guilty and will return to court later this month for a preliminary hearing.
Woods confessed in March to killing his girlfriend, but prosecutors and defense attorneys have disagreed about whether his case should be handled in adult court or juvenile court. Woods was 15 at the time of the crime - too young by 1992 standards to be tried as an adult.
Legal experts have said that the circumstances of the case could be unprecedented in California. The case against Woods mirrors some of the issues in the Skakel murder case in Greenwich, Conn. Skakel, 41, was convicted earlier this year of bludgeoning Martha Moxley to death with a golf club. He was 15 at the time of the killing.
Skakel was charged in juvenile court, but the case was transferred to adult court because no juvenile facilities were available to accommodate the middle-aged defendant.
In the Woods case, San Bernardino Judge Douglas Fettel in May tossed the murder charge, ruling prosecutors' retroactive use of Proposition 21 to try the case in adult court was unconstitutional.
The proposition, which passed in 1995, allows for some 14- and 15-year-olds to be prosecuted in adult court.
Prosecutors - worried that Woods might escape punishment because California Youth Authority holds offenders only until the age of 25 - appealed Fettel's ruling in June. Judge Gus Skropos last month reinstated the charges, finding that retroactive use of the proposition complies with the constitution.
Woods, who had been free since Fettel overturned the charges against him, was arrested last week at his mother's home in Alabama. His defense lawyer, Deputy Public Defender George Taylor, said Wednesday that Woods pleaded not guilty despite his earlier confession so all the evidence in his case can be presented in court.
Taylor said his office might file a motion opposing Woods' trial in adult court once the proceedings begin. A preliminary hearing for Woods' case will be scheduled Tuesday.
Jason Armstrong & Sean Windle
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