Alleged School Shooter Guilty in Mother’s Death

A teenager accused of shooting two Pearl High School classmates to death and wounding seven others was convicted Friday of murdering his mother before the school rampage began.

Luke Woodham, 17, was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing his mother, Mary, repeatedly and beating her with an aluminum baseball bat.

“I’m going to heaven now,” said a handcuffed and shackled Woodham as he was led from the courthouse to a patrol car. “Everything happens for a reason. It’s God’s will.”

Defense lawyers vowed to appeal. They sought to have Woodham declared insane, painting him as a vulnerable youth who was easily influenced by others, several of whom are charged with plotting the school shootings.

Under state law, Woodham won’t be eligible for parole until he is 65.

Jurors deliberated about three hours before convicting Woodham, who was tried as an adult. The case, which was moved here because of publicity, began Monday.

Woodham stood expressionless as the verdict was read and declined to say anything before being sentenced.

Hours after killing his 50-year-old mother on Oct. 1, Woodham allegedly went to Pearl High School, where he was an 11th-grader, pulled a rifle from under a trench coat and shot nine students. His former girlfriend was one of the two who died.

Woodham faces a second trial beginning Monday in the school shootings, the first in a string of similar attacks nationwide.

Woodham broke into tears as Assistant Dist. Atty. Tim Jones repeatedly described his mother’s murder as a deliberate, planned act.

“He’s mean. He’s hateful,” Jones said of Woodham in closing arguments.

Testifying through sobs Thursday, Woodham said he woke up the day of the killings taunted by demons. He recalled taking a knife to his mother’s room, all the while hearing an older teenager’s voice in his head. But Woodham said he doesn’t remember killing his mother.

Defense lawyers put on their case in one day Thursday, centering on claims Woodham wasn’t responsible for his actions because he is mentally ill and that he was under the control of Grant Boyette, 19.