Man gets probation after family makes ‘compelling’ case

Charges included 2 counts of felony attempted murder

A Hammond man avoided jail time for a shooting that wounded his son and nephew after his family made the “compelling” case that it stemmed from earlier events that spun out of control, a judge said.

Allen Woods Jr., 63, was charged earlier this year with two counts of felony attempted murder in the March 28 shooting.

He signed a plea agreement in September admitting to lower battery charges. He could have faced up to three years in prison.

Instead, several family members told Judge Salvador Vasquez on Wednesday at the sentencing hearing that Woods went to control his son that day who had been allegedly attacking his ex-wife after a birthday party for their 6-year-old daughter.

After Woods managed to get his son — also named Allen Woods — back to his house, he went inside to grab a gun and shot it up in the air, to scare him and get him to leave, he said. The son was in town from

Houston, where he had been living for the past few months, Woods said.

But, when he fired twice, one bullet pierced his nephew’s hand and wounded the son in his leg, charging documents state.

Several relatives called by defense lawyer William Padula, including the son’s ex-wife, her mother and Woods’ nephew, said the son — who did not cooperate with prosecutors — was the problem.

Raymond Smith, his nephew, who was wounded, said he went with Woods Jr. back to the son’s ex-wife’s house earlier that day, because the father was older and needed backup. Woods’ son was “acting like an animal” beating his ex-wife. The son was pulling TVs off the wall and smashing pictures. He encouraged her to press charges. It was “not the first time” the son attacked her, he said.

Woods Jr. “raised” him, was a good man and asked for him to avoid jail time, Smith said.

The woman’s mother had been ready to stab the son in the arm to “slow him down,” she said. In the scuffle, his son punched Woods, several said.

If anything, Woods Jr. “actually” saved his son’s life that day by being there, trying to get him out of the house, Smith said.

Woods Jr. testified on his own behalf.

In the past, his son had attacked multiple other women he had dated, he said. Although the son divorced the woman, Woods Jr. still supported her because they had children together.

That day, his son was “acting like he was losing his mind,” Woods said. He wanted to get him home to “cool down” then on a plane back to Houston.

“It didn’t happen that way,” he

said.

He only intended to fire into the air to “scare” his son, he said. Woods said he hadn’t been drinking.

Vasquez asked him multiple times if he lowered the gun at some point. Woods said his nephew had his hand raised, which explained how he was wounded. He must have lowered the aim at some point, because his son was hit in the leg, the judge said.

Someone could have been killed, Vasquez said.

“I regret this incident,” Woods said. “I’m so sorry for that.”

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jacquelyn Altpeter asked for three years in prison, saying kids or someone else could have been hurt, even though it happened late at night.

Woods had two prior felony convictions involving drugs, lawyers said. Probation had been followed and there were no other violent felonies.

The family’s case had been “compelling,” the judge said. “No question about it.”

The judge gave him three years on probation.