Local News in Brief : 2 Brothers, Alleged Hit Men to Be Tried

For a second time, two brothers and two of the reputed hit men they allegedly hired to gun down their parents have been ordered to stand trial on murder and conspiracy charges.

At the conclusion of a three-week preliminary hearing, Neil Woodman, 44, his brother, Stewart Woodman, 38, and the two reputed contract killers--Robert Homick, 37, a West Los Angeles lawyer, and Anthony Majoy, 49, of Reseda--were ordered to stand trial by Municipal Judge David Doi.

A third reputed hit man, Homick’s brother, former Los Angeles Police Officer Steven Homick, was not part of the preliminary hearing because he was being held in Las Vegas, where he faces trial for three separate murders.

The five men were initially ordered to stand trial in June, 1986, but a state appellate court dismissed the case on grounds that they were denied due process at an earlier preliminary hearing.

Gerald Woodman, 67, and his wife, Vera, 63, were shot as they returned to their Brentwood condominium Sept. 25, 1985, after a family dinner for Yom Kippur, the Jewish holy day of atonement. Police said the brothers arranged the slayings to collect their mother’s $500,000 life insurance policy.