The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The widow of an Indianapolis police officer shot to death during a 1974 robbery urged members of the Indiana Parole Board on Monday not to release her husband’s convicted killer.
Stephanie Manley told parole board members that Norman Woodford should not be granted release based on a “loophole” in the law.
“Until this man admits his role in this horrible crime and accepts his punishment, how can anyone think he has turned over a new leaf?” she said.
Woodford has served 29 years behind bars for the Dec. 11, 1974 murder of Indianapolis police officer Ronald Manley, 27. Woodford will address the panel Wednesday.
Thirteen people _ including Indianapolis Police Chief Jerry Barker -- went before the board Monday to ask that Woodford be kept in prison.
Nine people asked for Woodford’s release, including his mother, Hazel Martin, his sister and State Rep. Bill Crawford. This week’s hearing is the second time this year the board is weighing Woodford’s release.
The first, in February, led the board to vote 4-0 on July 2 to grant him freedom because the panel believed Woodford was no longer a risk to society and was not the man who pulled the trigger.
However, on Aug. 11, the day before Woodford was scheduled to walk out of prison, a Hamilton County judge blocked his release, ruling that the Parole Board failed to follow legal procedures.
This time, the Parole Board will hear testimony and evidence that has been left out, lost or forgotten in the year since Manley’s murder.
Woodford’s supporters say he is now a model prisoner, a Christian, a college graduate and a role model to other inmates.
Manley’s loved ones say there should be no second chances for those who kill police officers.
Woodford avoided trial and a possible death penalty in 1976 by pleading guilty to murder. He admitted his role in the robbery but has always denied pulling the trigger.
He has maintained that his accomplice, Robbie Allen Woods, who was shot and killed by Manley, actually killed the officer.