Liberia Sentences American to Prison
William Henry Woodhouse, a former U.S. Marine, was convicted Wednesday of conspiring last year to overthrow Liberian military head of state Samuel K. Doe and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Woodhouse, a black American who was in a wheelchair, pleaded guilty to “mercenarism.” He told reporters later: “Both my legs are paralyzed. . . . I am asking Dr. Doe to please have mercy on me.”
Prosecutors said during the two-day trial that Woodhouse and a Liberian, Elmer Johnson, were wounded Nov. 3, 1984, in a shootout with police at a house in Monrovia. The prosecution said that Johnson hired Woodhouse for $200,000 in October to help a group of Liberian soldiers overthrow Doe and install a Marxist regime led by Johnson.
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