U.S. Indicts Brothers in Slaying of Parents

Neil and Stewart Woodman, Los Angeles brothers awaiting trial for the alleged 1985 contract murder of their parents, have been indicted in connection with the same murders by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas.

The 11-count indictment, issued Thursday but made public Friday, charges the Woodmans with traveling between Nevada and California to aid in the alleged murders for hire.

Stewart Woodman, 39, is also charged with participating in a racketeering enterprise led by Steven M. Homick of Las Vegas, one of three men accused of carrying out the murder plot against the elder Woodmans. The double murder is listed as one of the racketeering activities.

Homick and his brothers, Robert and William Homick, were the principal focus of the investigation brought to the grand jury by the Las Vegas Strike Force, according to Terry Lord, attorney in charge.

Gerald Woodman, 67, and his wife, Vera, 63, were killed in a hail of bullets on Sept. 25, 1985, as they were returning to their Brentwood condominium after a meal marking the end of Yom Kippur.

Held Without Bail

Arrested the following March, Neil Woodman, 45, and his brother were accused of arranging their parents’ murders to collect on a $500,000 insurance policy so they could salvage their failing plastics business.

The Woodmans, Steven Homick and two co-defendants have been held without bail since then in Los Angeles County Jail. If convicted, they could be sent to the gas chamber.

Angrily reacting to the indictments Friday, the Woodmans’ attorneys questioned the timing of the grand jury investigation, which was conducted by the Las Vegas Strike Force.

Stewart Woodman and Anthony Majoy, 50, another of the alleged hit men, are scheduled to go on trial April 10 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

“It’s totally unconscionable,” said Jay Jaffe, who represents Stewart Woodman. “They are doing it because they are going to lose in state court. They are trying to go through the back door to get what they can’t get through the front door.”

“Why they included Neil Woodman in this is beyond me,” said attorney Gerald Chaleff. Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrick R. Dixon, who is prosecuting the Los Angeles case, said he learned of the federal indictment only after it was returned. “My office has no influence over the timing of what the strike force does,” he said.

The grand jury charged Steven Homick with four other murders, including three for which he is scheduled to be tried in Clark County (Nevada) Superior Court next month.

The Homick brothers are accused of a pattern of racketeering involving drug distribution, wire fraud, extortion and arson as well as murder. As part of the racketeering count, Stewart Woodman and Robert Homick were accused of extorting money from two Riverside customers after a business dispute.

In addition to the Woodman and Homick brothers, six other people, including Steven Homick’s wife, Delores, are named in the indictment.