Judge Wood's assassin dies of heart attack

Web Posted: 03/21/2007 01:55 AM CDT

Maro Robbins and Guillermo Contreras
Express-News

Charles Voyde Harrelson, hired assassin of a San Antonio federal judge, professional gambler and father of movie star Woody Harrelson, died last week in the maximum-security cell where he was serving two life sentences.
A heart attack apparently claimed the 69-year-old inmate in his sleep last Wednesday, said Dorothy Twellman, the coroner in Fremont County, Colo., where Harrelson was held at the federal prison known as "Supermax."

Not the most notorious inmate in a lockup that holds the likes of Unabomber Ted Kaczynksi, the hit man nonetheless inspired considerable hyperbole and was prosecuted four times in three murders.

Harrelson had reportedly claimed credit for a dozen contract killings by 1982, when he was convicted of firing the sniper's bullet that killed U.S. District Judge John H. Wood outside his townhome on Broadway.

"Anyone whose life he touched suffered from it," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Jahn, one of the federal prosecutors who convicted Harrelson in the local federal courthouse that by the time of trial already bore the name of the slain judge.

Harrelson, born in the Southeast Texas town of Lovelady in Walker County, was the youngest of six children. He came from a law enforcement family.

An uncle was a prison warden, another a Houston detective. Harrelson went the other direction, beginning a string of marriages, odd jobs and crimes after a stint in the Navy.

Discharged in 1959, Harrelson moved with his first wife, Dianne, to Los Angeles, where he peddled encyclopedias and was charged with robbery.

While in jail, he became what he called a "snitch." He allowed police to record his conversations with an accused killer. As a reward, he received five years' probation, which was later expunged from his record.

Moving to Texas, Harrelson sold dental equipment and eventually divorced. The couple's three sons, Brett, Jordan and Woody, stayed with their mother.

Charles Harrelson married a second wife, Betty, in 1965 and eventually settled in Houston. By then, Harrelson said he was gambling full time.

"He was what they call in Las Vegas a 'card mechanic,'" said Thomas Sharpe, the lawyer who defended Harrelson. "He'll hand you a deck of cards, you shuffle them, he'll cut them and give you the cards he wants you to have."

In 1968, he was arrested in separate murders in Brazoria and Hidalgo counties. He was acquitted of one, the slaying of bookie Alan Berg, but went to prison for shooting Sam Degelia Jr., a Hearne grain dealer, as part of a $2,000 murder-for-hire.

Released in 1978, he married for a third time the next year, this time to Jo Ann Starr.

Five months later, Wood was dead, slain May 29, 1979, on his way to work.

An intense manhunt ensued, eventually focusing on Harrelson, by then in jail on unrelated charges. He was charged with murdering the judge on behalf of Jimmy Chagra, an El Paso drug kingpin then facing trial in Wood's court.

Harrelson, then 44, claimed innocence, but testimony during the 12-week trial convinced jurors that he'd received $250,000 to pull the trigger.

"He would only kill for money," said Jack Dean, a retired Texas Ranger and U.S. marshal who dealt with Harrelson several times during his career. "He wasn't a homicidal maniac; he was just an old boy who had no qualms about killing people."

Harrelson received two life sentences, and Chagra was sentenced to 30 years after a separate trial. Released in 2003, Chagra is believed to be in the federal witness protection program.

An escape attempt from an Atlanta prison led to Harrelson's transfer to the "Supermax."

In 1987, Harrelson married yet again, this time to Gina Adelle Foster. Serving as the inmate's proxy during the ceremony was Woody Harrelson, then appearing on the NBC comedy "Cheers."

A decade later, the actor, who couldn't be reached for comment, bankrolled an extensive appeal for his father.

"I can't attest to whether he's guilty or innocent," Woody Harrelson said at the time. "But a lot of sources lead me to believe it wasn't a fair trial."

The appeal led to a series of hearings in 1997, but the appeal ultimately failed.

By the time the Supreme Court refused to review his conviction in 2004, Charles Harrelson had long before given up. He'd years earlier told the Dallas Morning News, "I'll probably die right here in this facility, which is fine."

And he was also rumored for years by JFK assassination theorists to have possibly been one of the three "railroad" hobos briefly detained in the Dealey Plaza area immediately after the murder of JFK...who were unceremoniously released without being properly identified by the police. Allegedly.

And Lovelady isn't in Walker County. It's in Houston County, where men are men and roadkill is fair game.