By Richard Abshire
The Dallas Morning News
HUNT COUNTY, Calif. — A state district judge ruled Tuesday that Brandon Woodruff’s constitutional rights were violated and that some evidence should be suppressed because jailhouse phone calls between Mr. Woodruff and his attorney were recorded and shared with prosecutors.
But Judge Richard Beacom Jr. said he won’t dismiss murder charges against Mr. Woodruff, bar the Hunt County district attorney’s office from the case or name a special prosecutor.
In a written ruling issued at a pretrial hearing, the judge said prosecutors violated Mr. Woodruff’s right to counsel and attorney-client privilege.
“Although the Court does not believe that the Office of the Hunt County District Attorney acted with malice or without some case authority to support their actions, this Court believes that the practice of the State listening to a defendant’s telephone conversations with his attorney is a violation of the 6th Amendment,” Judge Beacom wrote.
“In a close case, we must error in favor of the Defendant and the Constitution,” he wrote.
Mr. Woodruff, 21, accused of murdering his parents in October 2005, has been in the Hunt County Jail since his arrest shortly after their funerals.
He was led into court Tuesday by an armed bailiff. He wore shackles on his wrists, waist and ankles, and a white jumpsuit with orange or faded red stripes that said “Hunt County Jail” in black letters across the back.
Mr. Davis, his attorney, asked the judge to order that Mr. Woodruff be allowed to wear civilian clothes without shackles when making court appearances because media photos might prejudice potential jurors.
He also asked for a continuance beyond the trial date of Oct. 31, saying prosecutors were slow in providing information during discovery.
The judge’s ruling Tuesday did not address either request.
Prosecutors have said that they learned nothing from the taped conversations. Neither they nor the defense would comment Tuesday, citing a gag order that Judge Beacom has placed on all the attorneys, legal assistants and potential witnesses in the case.
Absent malice by the prosecutors, the judge ruled, the constitutional violation did not warrant dismissal of the charges against Mr. Woodruff or disqualification of the prosecutors, both of which defense attorney Jerry Davis had sought.
Judge Beacom said the appropriate remedy is to suppress evidence the prosecutors obtained from the taped calls.
“Consequently, any evidence obtained from any telephone calls placed by Mr. Woodruff to members of his defense team is suppressed,” the judge wrote. “Any evidence obtained as a result of investigation from information obtained from such phone calls is likewise suppressed.”
“It’s like closing the barn door after the horse is out,” defense attorney Katherine Ferguson said during the Tuesday hearing.
She argued that prosecutors can’t be expected to erase from their minds whatever they heard on the tapes.
During the hearing, Ms. Ferguson said that a separate hearing should be held to determine what prosecutors got from the recordings, and that prosecutors should turn over to the court not only the recordings themselves but also any notes, so the court can be sure they don’t use any of that information at trial.
The next pretrial hearing is set for Friday.
Mr. Woodruff’s paternal grandmother, Bonnie Woodruff, took time off from her job at a Texarkana department store and drove with a friend to Greenville to see him at the hearing. She said he calls her “Mimi.”
She said she can’t talk about the case or even attend the hearing because she’s on the witness list. She made eye contact with Mr. Woodruff when he came into the court and asked him how he was doing. He said he was OK.
Ms. Woodruff stepped outside when the hearing started. After it was over, she came back and sat in one of the cushioned spectators’ pews separated from the attorneys by a 3-foot hardwood wall with a swinging gate.
They weren’t close enough to touch, but she and Mr. Woodruff spoke softly to each other until he was led away.
Copyright 2007 Dallas Morning News