How did Woody Harrelson's dad get caught?

Search: Charles Harrison

Why: Last night during a "Cheers"-a-thon, I was wondering how Woody (whose real name is Woodrow, btw) got so lucky as to play a character named Woody.

Then I read this:

In 1979, in San Antonio, Federal Judge John H. Wood, Jr. was shot and killed by rifle fire. Harrelson's father, who was a freelance contract killer, was arrested for the killing. He was convicted and eventually died during his life sentence in maximum security prison.

I kind of remember that, but still, wtf.

Answer: An anonymous tip!

Harrelson was convicted of killing Wood in the parking lot outside of Wood's San Antonio townhouse after being hired by drug dealer Jamiel Chagra. Wood — nicknamed "Maximum John" because of his reputation for handing down long sentences for drug offenses — was originally scheduled to have Chagra appear before him on the day of his murder, but the trial had been delayed.

Harrelson was apprehended with the aid of an anonymous tip and a tape recording of a conversation that occurred during a visit from Joe Chagra to his brother Jamiel Chagra in prison. Harrelson claimed at trial that he did not kill Judge Wood, but merely took credit for it so he could claim a large payment from Chagra.

Harrelson was eventually convicted based largely on Chagra's conversation with his brother from prison. Both Harrelson and Joe Chagra were implicated in the assassination. Harrelson was sentenced to life imprisonment, while Chagra received a 10-year sentence.

That murder happened May 29, 1979. Before that, Harrelson had been in prison before that for another 1968 murder, sentenced to 15 years in 1973, and released on parole in September 1978. So he made it 9 hot months before he was in prison again. What a professional! He died of natural causes (still in prison) in 2007.

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know:

These pictures are from a site about the organized crime involved with the assassination of JFK, because:

Harrelson mentioned in an early confession to the Wood murder that he shot President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963. He then later denied his role in the shooting of the President, for which no connection was ever found.

Conspiracy theorists have labeled him as one of the "Three Tramps" hiding in a box car on the railroad tracks behind Dealey Plaza just after the shooting. Harrelson at various times before his death both denied and boasted about his role as one of the tramps.

In 1982, Harrelson told a Dallas TV station, "Do you believe that Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy, alone, without any aid from a rogue agency of the US government or at least a portion of that agency? I believe you are very naïve if you do."

What a jerk.