Woodson sentenced

By Tony Gonzalez

Published: November 10, 2008

The Afton man who shook the Shenandoah Valley in a shooting spree that ended in Waynesboro after stretching along 11 miles of Interstate 64 will spend two years in prison, a Waynesboro judge ruled Monday.

“I take full responsibility for my actions,” Slade Allen Woodson, 19, said in a statement Monday. He stood briefly in an orange jumpsuit, also saying he has an alcohol problem that “needs to be dealt with.”

Defense attorney David Smith stopped short of saying Woodson was drinking the night of the shootings.

Woodson, who turns 20 Wednesday, faced a maximum sentence of 55 years. He pleaded guilty in July to firing shots into a North Commerce Avenue home and at the DuPont Community Credit Union in Waynesboro. Police say those shootings were a continuation of early-morning attacks and vandalism along I-64 that left two people slightly injured and sparked a 29-hour manhunt in Albemarle County, where Woodson is facing 15 felony charges.

Woodson is scheduled for a Dec. 3 bench trial in Albemarle Circuit Court.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney David Ledbetter said that despite his statement, Woodson still denies culpability.

“In fact, he blames the juvenile [accomplice] for all the shots fired that night,” Ledbetter said.

Brandon Dawson, 16, of Crozet, pleaded guilty to related charges in an Albemarle County court in May, and also is charged in the two Waynesboro incidents. That case waits in Waynesboro Juvenile and Domestic Relations court.

Previous convictions for larceny have not deterred Woodson, Ledbetter said in requesting the sentence, which includes five years’ probation upon release. Woodson also will pay restitution of $9,378 to the credit union and $810 to the owner of a van struck by shots.

Smith asked more than a dozen friends and relatives gathered on Woodson’s behalf to stand and confirm they sent letters supporting him.

They did.

Smith emphasized Woodson’s problem with alcohol and asked that he be enrolled in therapy while in prison.

“My client is a good guy except when he drinks,” Smith said. “Then he does stupid things ... incredibly stupid.”

In previous testimony, Ledbetter described the events of March 27.

Woodson and Dawson bought ammunition for a .22 magnum caliber rifle at Wal-Mart in Waynesboro at about 12:30 a.m., about 20 minutes after authorities received reports of shots being fired from the Route 690 overpass of Interstate 64.

From the store, Woodson drove a 1974 Gremlin to the credit union, 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. Then, heading in the direction of North Commerce Avenue, Dawson steered the car while Woodson fired shots into a house.

Smith maintained Dawson fired the shots, not Woodson.

The pair were arrested the following day in a raid at a house at Yonder Hill Farm on a secluded 91.5-acre plot in rural western Albemarle County. DNA on a .22-caliber rifle seized in the raid matched both Woodson and Dawson.

Waynesboro Circuit Court Judge Humes J. Franklin said alcohol would be Woodson’s “ruination.”

“Good luck to you, Mr. Woodson,” Franklin said. “You’re going to have to get a handle on that alcohol problem.”

Woodson is scheduled for a Dec. 3 bench trial in Albemarle Circuit Court.

He pleaded guilty in Waynesboro to two counts of shooting into an occupied residence, three counts of maliciously shooting from a vehicle and one count of destruction of property.