ATLANTA -- Thomas Woods had only been out of jail a few months when he allegedly snapped up a young girl in a Georgia Walmart. But a review of the 25-year-old's criminal background reveals a violent past.
Court documents show in 2004 Woods confessed to police he shot his uncle James Price to death and buried him in a compost pile. Last October, Woods was released, having finished a seven-year sentence for manslaughter.
Despite being initially charged with felony murder and assault with a deadly weapon, Woods eventually pleaded guilty to the lesser charge because of officer misconduct.
In court documents from the trial obtained by 11Alive, a DeKalb police sergeant admitted to playing on Woods' emotions to gain a confession, despite the fact that Woods invoked his right to have an attorney present for questioning.
While the 17-year-old Woods was in an interview room, Sergeant Tom Stewart said he started talking about deaths in his own family. Without a recording device in use, Stewart told Woods he'd recently lost his father. He said he was glad he could still talk to him by visiting his grave.
"I told him human beings weren't like animals, they shouldn't be left out in the woods somewhere to rot, and that everybody should have an opportunity to bury their dead," Stewart told the court in the transcript.
Stewart said Woods was unmoved at that point, so Stewart continued by saying he had also lost his brother, and appreciated being able to visit his grave as well, saying "everyone needs to know where their loved ones are."
At that point, Stewart testified that Woods started crying and said, "I killed him and I buried him out back."
Woods told police he had been abused by his father and uncle, and had finally reached a breaking point. He told the officers he shot his uncle after an argument using his father's gun. Woods then led investigators to the body in the compost pile.
Judge Robert Castellani threw out the confession over the state's arguments that while the confession may not be used, the evidence obtained later could be. Castellani called Sergeant Stewart "Mr. Smooth," and said he was "pulling the heartstrings," and preying upon Woods' youth.
"You send in Mr. Smooth and he comes up with a story of my father died, my brother died, I'd like to be able to talk to them," Castellani told the lawyers. "I talk to my father all the time. His grave is 1500 miles away. I don't need a grave to talk to somebody who died. So that's bull."
The state's attorneys said there was precedent for using some of the evidence obtained after the confession, but Castellani was not moved. He said the confession could not be construed as voluntary.
"It's a great ploy. It sounds like something you'd see on one of these cops shows like the shield or the closer or whatever. I don't watch those things."
Woods' confession was tossed, and lacking stronger evidence, the charge went down to manslaughter. Woods served his seven years, and was a free man when he walked into the Bremen Walmart.
Current DeKalb District Attorney Robert James was not involved in the 2004 case., but he said he and any other lawyer or police officer worth his salt is familiar with basic case law.
"If your evidence is primarily a confession or an admission--and that's withheld because of a violation of the 5th amendment--then you can't go forward," James said. "It's how our system works, and you have to respect the system."