Woods Brothers Charged In Murder At Apartments Near UTC Had Been Attacked Earlier, Attorney Says

  • Tuesday, July 23, 2019
  • Joseph Dycus

Two Chattanooga brothers accused of murdering one man and injuring two others at Douglas Heights apartments near the UTC campus did so after they themselves had been attacked, defense attorneys said Tuesday.

A postponement to Aug. 27 came after a brief discussion with General Sessions Court Judge Gerald Webb on Tuesday morning.

With family in the gallery, both Omerrieal Woods, 29, and Toddie Woods, 26, approached the stand flanked by their lawyers, and got a new date for a preliminary hearing.

The older of the two is charged with facilitation of murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder. The younger brother is charged with first-degree murder and the two counts of attempted murder.

Omerrieal Woods was arrested for drug and weapon-related charges, but was out on federal bond when he committed the alleged crime.

There is video of the shooting being carried out, with Toddie Woods firing a gun at a door after his brother handed him the gun, police said.

Those bullets connected with and killed Rigoberto Jarquin, and injured two others. 

According to Bill Speek, who represents Toddie Woods and is lead counsel for both brothers, the date was set so far out for several reasons.

“We believe the altercation that led to this tragic event started before they were even in the building, so we’re going to follow up on those leads,” said the attorney.

One reason for the month-long wait between dates is because several witnesses have come forward in the last few days, and the attorneys need time to process all of them.

“There’s been a lot more witnesses than had previously been identified,” said attorney Speek.

“We’ve also have started conducting our own investigation. We’ve got a lot of staff looking through social media,” he said.

He also pointed out that his clients had sustained injuries prior to the shooting, which he characterized as a possible act of self-defense.

“One of the things that has not been leaked out so far is the amount of injuries our clients had sustained as an attack on them before there were any shots fired,” said the attorney, “So we need to really investigate that. This is a more complicated case than what has previously been reported at this point.”

When asked if he believed the shooting was in response to an attack, Mr. Speak elaborated on his previous statement.

“Well, we know that the shooting was not an act in a vacuum, and that the shooting did happen after they had been attacked. I know that they’ve got a broken nose, and we've got black eyes. We know those injuries happened prior to the shooting.”

“As always, there’s two sides to every story. And these two young men’s stories have not been told yet,” said defending attorney Jay Morgan. He added, "There is plenty there that will give more information on what transpired than what has been released to the media so far."

 

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