Tony Randall Woods: Yes, It's Capital Murder

Tony Randall Woods and his wife Tammie argued on the night of July 13th; as she drove away, he shot into her vehicle. Tammie Woods managed to drive one mile from the home the two had once shared before she collapsed and later died. Tony Woods has now been charged and arraigned with Capital Murder--if convicted he will either forfeit his life or spend the remainder of it in an Alabama maximum security prison.

Woods claims that although he did shoot intentionally, fatally wounding his wife was not his intention. Sorry, Mr. Woods, you have now met the law in Alabama: fire into an occupied vehicle, killing any occupant, and you are guilty of Capital Murder, no matter your intentions.

Mr. Woods may arrange a plea deal, or he may be tried and found not guilty for whatever rationale the jurors find that suits their collective conscience. That would still not make Tony Randall Woods any less guilty of Capital Murder by the letter of the law. If you don't like the law, legislate to change it. Alabama certainly maintains a laundry list of Capital Murder offenses. That in itself does not make Woods any less guilty.

Tony Randall Woods is a murderer, an abuser, and a coward. Let's all pray for justice for Tammie Woods.

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How do you embezzle 40K and your family not know it? We've received that question concerning the Colbert 911 office manager recently terminated for the alleged payroll theft of over 41K. While such a sum considered as a whole may seem large, one needs to remember that this was taken over a period of time and done via legal payroll.

We may assume that only 30K or so actually reached the office manager, and this could have well been over a time frame of five years or more. Would anyone notice their friend or neighbor had an extra 6K a year in income? Probably not. Would her husband or other family notice? The office manager has stated her husband had a very good job; even so, driving each day from a remote community, raising two young sons, paying utilities in super cold or super hot weather, plus helping parents whom she admitted had financial problems would soon add up. No, we don't think it odd at all that her husband, family, and friends suspected nothing.

Do we think this office manager should be prosecuted, or simply allowed to repay any missing money? Our personal choice would be the latter, but unfortunately many insurance companies demand criminal prosecution of such money crimes. How many people fall into such traps, not thinking of the consequences? More than most of us realize.

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The Alabama Department of Education has notified us that the teaching license revocation hearing of Brian Keith McGuire will be held December 14-15, 2010, in a location yet to be named. A reader recently sent us a thought provoking question:

Do you think it's funny McGuire was found not guilty of rape last year, but wound up in prison anyway? (McGuire is reportedly now working as a prison guard.) Yes, the irony was not lost on us. At the end of the day, McGuire does go home to a wide screen television, Internet, a comfortable bed, decent food, or whatever amenities he may have; yet he spends the majority of most waking days with those who are not the most scintillating of companions. O. Henry could not have written it better.


Shoalanda