Woodson pleads guilty

By Jimmy LaRoue

Published: July 14, 2008

Slade Allen Woodson pleaded guilty Monday in Waynesboro Circuit Court to six felony counts in connection with shootings that took place in Waynesboro in the early morning hours of March 27.
“I am truly sorry for not preventing this from happening, and I will take full responsibility for my actions,” Woodson said in a brief statement to the court.
Woodson, 19, of Afton, pleaded guilty to two counts of shooting into an occupied residence, three counts of maliciously shooting from a vehicle and one count of destruction of property for shots fired at the DuPont Community Credit Union on Lucy Lane.
A grand jury indicted Woodson on May 12.
A pre-sentencing report is expected to be issued within 90 to 120 days. Woodson faces up to 55 years in prison for the Waynesboro shootings, without the possibility of parole. With his plea, he also waived his right to appeal.
Waynesboro Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney David Ledbetter told the court that on March 27, Woodson and an accomplice, Brandon Dawson, 16, of Crozet, drove a 1974 Gremlin to the Waynesboro Wal-Mart at about 12:30 a.m.
About 20 minutes earlier, Ledbetter said, authorities had received reports of shots being fired from the Route 690 overpass of Interstate 64. Those shots, he said, struck four occupied vehicles traveling westbound on the interstate, two drivers received minor injuries from the gunfire.
Woodson and Dawson left Wal-Mart about 25 minutes later, having bought ammunition for a .22 magnum caliber rifle, Ledbetter said.
From there, Ledbetter said Woodson headed to the DuPont Community Credit Union on Lucy Lane, where he fired three shots – one hitting the bank’s sign, one going through a window and lodging in the building, and another hitting a van parked outside.
Ledbetter said Woodson, the driver of the vehicle, left heading in the direction of North Commerce Avenue, and, as Dawson grabbed the wheel, Woodson fired shots into a house there. Ledbetter said someone who had testified against Woodson on an Albemarle County arson charge lived at the residence.
Woodson fired two rounds into the residence, Ledbetter said, before leaving toward Interstate 64, which by that time had been closed off by Virginia State Police.
Woodson then took U.S. 340 North to Va. 33 West before getting on U.S. 29, where his car broke down, Ledbetter said. Woodson and Dawson were arrested the following day in a raid at a house at Yonder Hill Farm, a 91.5-acre farm in rural western Albemarle County.
The DNA on the weapon seized in the raid matched both Woodson and Dawson, Ledbetter said.
Public defender David Smith, representing Woodson in court, said he agreed with Ledbetter’s statement “to the extent that the shots were fired from the car.”
An Albemarle grand jury indicted Woodson in June on 15 charges in connection with the I-64 shootings that left two people slightly injured and sparked a 29-hour manhunt. He is scheduled for a Sept. 16 bench trial in Albemarle Circuit Court.
Following his plea Monday, Woodson was remanded back to the custody of the Waynesboro Sheriff’s Department.
Dawson pleaded guilty in Albemarle Circuit Court to five counts of maliciously shooting at an occupied vehicle. He was sentenced there to a 180-day intensive juvenile program. Charges against Dawson are still pending in Waynesboro Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, Ledbetter said.
Ledbetter declined to comment on Woodson’s statement.