But Mr. Jahn, the Federal prosecutor, said in his final argument Saturday, ''Charles Harrelson had three talents. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Goodman made a six-hour final argument without a break. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Charles Harrelson arrives at Federal Court 11-8-82 for his trial in the slaying of federal judge Wood. The 5th U.S. Great American Trials. And You Thought Feral Hogs Were Bad. Harrelson).'. Joe Chagra also testified that Jimmy Chagra later told him he had hired Harrelson to kill the judge and that Harrelson himself told Joe Chagra that he had carried out the hit, according to the newspaper stories. Harrelson reported back that Wood could not be corrupted but had to be killed. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. All relationship and family history information shown on FameChain has been compiled from data in the public domain. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. 23 Feb. 2023 . The trial for the Harrelsons and Elizabeth Chagra took place in the newly named John H. Wood Jr. courthouse over objections from defense lawyers. The government efforts in the Wood case are not over. She recovered quickly and later said she was fine. Because he was a model prisoner Joe ended up spending only six and a half years behind bars. All but Jimmy live in El Paso. It's an amazing way to provide a warm handoff so that people have all of their needs served. Mr. Harrelson's wife, Jo Ann, was found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct justice, the only charge against her in this case. The prosecution charged that Harrelson, who had earlier served five years before being paroled of a 15-year sentence for killing a man for a $2,000 fee, But Chagra and Harrelson werent immediate suspects, and it took thousands of man-hours before they were identified as such. Jimmy told me he was never going to get a fair trial and asked if I thought he should try having Judge Wood killed, Joe Chagra testified, according to newspaper stories at the time. Charles Harrelson's son, the actor Woody Harrelson, later supported a motion for a retrial, based on both the inadequacy of the original defense and the federal government's methods of gathering evidence. Charles Harrelson under arrest in 1982 for the slaying of federal judge John Wood. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. Prosecutors made a diorama of Woods condo complex to show how the murder occurred. 'I have ordered the hearing continued and you can logically assume what that means,' Sessions said. In real life, it highlighted the criminal acts of those accused in Woods killing a drug lord, an actors father and some of their relatives. In an unsuccessful effort to try to free his wife early from her 30-year sentence, Chagra later admitted to his role in the conspiracy to murder Wood and agreed to testify against people who had tried to kill James Kerr, a federal prosecutor who had initially obtained drug-trafficking indictments against Jimmy Chagra and battled repeatedly in court with Lee Chagra. Less than a year before Judge Wood was slain, Lee Chagra, Joseph's older brother, who had defended numerous narcotics suspects in Judge Wood's court, was killed in his office by armed robbers. On Christmas Eve 1978, two thugs robbed Lees law office and killed him. But Joe absolutely refused to testify against his brother as a matter of family honor. It was such an iconoclastic case, because it was believed a federal judge could not be touched.. Click here to Start FameChaining. She, in turn, claimed she thought the payoff was for a gambling debt, and did not believe her husband when he claimed, "This is for the judge.". Thursday, May 28: Oscars Case of the Century: The Life and Crimes of Jimmy Chagra Courtroom Conversations, Acquitted of hiring actor Woody Harrelsons dad to murder Judge Maximum John Wood, Got off on a once-in-a-lifetime miracle defense by attorney Oscar Goodman, Spearheaded one of the biggest drug-smuggling rings in the country, Bet millions and tipped big, a Las Vegas high roller, Had links to New Englands Patriarca crime family, Lived a life surrounded by mobsters, murder, career criminals and conspiracies, Journalist Jack Sheehan, who interviewed Chagra extensively, Moderator Geoff Schumacher, director of content at The Mob Museum. Thats how one former friend described the convicted killer. Editor's note: This story originally published in a 2017 series honoring the 300th anniversary of San Antonio.A man named Bill Bannister registered at the Town House motel on Loop 410 on Memorial Day 1979. Harrelson had been a suspect, but so had several others. Chagra was a prolific marijuana smuggler and spent his ill-gotten fortune on casinos in Las Vegas, where he moved in 1978. killed Judge Wood in exchange for a promised $250,000 payment by Jamiel Chagra. (February 23, 2023). Once he paid off a cocktail waitress $50,000 mortgage when he heard she was raising three kids on her own. ', Jahn, who has spearheaded the prosecutions resulting from the Wood investigation, said, 'I'm a firm believer in the system and I'm in full agreement with the verdicts reached today.'. H-E-Bs True Texas BBQ Restaurant Is Slipping, West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country. I testified at the hearing to determine if his law license should be restored, telling the same story Ive told here, yet the prosecution never offered any assistance and the judge ruled that restoring the license would not meet the ends of justice. Joe had to support himself by writing briefs for other lawyers. On May 29, 1979, Wood was shot dead in the parking lot outside his San Antonio townhouse. After invoking the Jo Ann Harrelson was convicted of conspiracy to obstruct justice and later convicted of five counts of perjury. Jamiel Chagra was tried separately, in Jacksonville, Florida and received a sentence of 15 years and was fined $120,000 on the charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice and conspiracy to possess marijuana. Tapes of Jerry Ray James' extensive conversations with Jamiel spelled out details of the plot to kill the judge. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Harrelson claimed that he was set up. In her 2022 memoir Charles and Jo Ann Harrelson and Liz Chagra were convicted at trial. March 2 (UPI) -- A Florida woman earned a Guinness World Record when she completed 23 ultra-marathon runs -- 31.1 miles -- in a 23-day period. Whats Up With All the Kangaroos on the Loose in Texas? "Three Are Found Guilty of Assassination of Federal Judge." -- Jo Ann Harrelson, a former Las Vegas gambler and wife of the hitman convicted of killing a federal judge, was found guilty of perjury -- the latest in a string of convictions in the case. At one point in a rambling dialogue, Jimmy warned Joe that he was up to his neck in the murder plot. On Dec. 14, 1982, a Federal jury in San Antonio found Mr. Harrelson guilty of conspiracy to murder, murder and conspiracy to obstruct justice. ", -Stacy Pullen, Executive Director, Foster Pantry, Since moving to the Harrelson Center, "Instead of a family going all over town to receive different services, we can walk them to another agency down the hall to help them with anything they may need. The evidence gathered against Harrelson was somewhat tenuous, and included testimony from Joseph Chagra in return for a reduced sentence, and a letter from Elizabeth Chagra that claimed she had delivered money to Harrelson as a payoff for the murder. He was serving a 30-year sentence there that he received on the drug charge that was to be tried before Judge Wood. But it also spotlighted allegations that federal investigators and prosecutors treaded on constitutional rights such as attorney-client and marital privilege and the secret recording of private conversations. 1985) Annotate this Case US Court of Appeals for the Mr. Harrelson also said that a high-powered Weatherby hunting rifle, the kind the Government said killed the judge, purchased by his wife 12 days before the slaying, was actually given to Mr. Kay. In his testimony over more than five days on the witness stand, Mr. Harrelson said he had gone to lure Jamiel Chagra into a crooked card game. Find out more about his hitman father, Charles Harrelson, here. I know, of course, that on the witness stand Joe testified that he counseled his brother Jimmy to order the hit, and I know he did time in federal prison. By that time the FBI investigation into the judges assassination was more than two years old. Chagra was let out on bail and he disappeared. Charles Manson Trial: 1970-71 He enjoyed a high-rolling lifestyle at Caesars Palace and Binions Horseshoe but he was not a very good gambler. The first giraffe in San Antonio was part of a traveling circus that stopped here in 1901. A few days later they returned a not-guilty verdict to the murder charge. Joe Chagra ended Encyclopedia.com. He claimed that a fellow gambler, George (Pete) Kay had bilked Jamiel Chagra by claiming that Charles Harrelson had killed the judge and should collect the $250,000 fee. Jimmy Chagra, who was facing numerous narcotics charges, would become a suspect in the killing. By the time the trial came around in 1983, Jimmy Chagras case had been severed from his co-defendants and Joe Chagra had taken a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to murder Wood. But as his lawyer, Harrelson reasoned, anything Joe discovered about Woods murder would have to be kept confidential because of attorney-client privilege. ", - Kim Ceasar, Executive Director, Soaring As Eagles, "The Harrelson Center changes the lives of people in amazing ways. He built a marijuana and cocaine smuggling operation with connections to Colombia and Mexico. Jack Sheehan has been living and writing in Las Vegas for 40 years. Middle brother Jimmy, the proverbial bad penny, used Joe as a wedge against Lee in a sibling rivalry that consumed both brothers and eventually the entire family, and as the unwitting liaison in his drug operations. Jimmy was upset about that because he thought it put him under suspicion right away, Ray Jahn said. In 1979, a federal grand jury in Midland, Texas, indicted Chagra on drug smuggling charges. Florida woman runs ultra-marathon distances for 23 consecutive days. SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- A convicted hit man's wife Monday won a first round in her battle with federal prosecutors who want her jailed for refusing to testify against her husband in the probe of the slaying of a federal judge. March 2 (UPI) -- A Minnesota police officer came to the rescue of a raccoon he spotted running around with a jar stuck over its head. It was greed, the prosecution maintained, that had sent Mr. Harrelson, who had already spent 15 years in prison for killing a man for a $2,000 fee, to Las Vegas a month before, looking for Jamiel Chagra. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Jimmy Chagra was released from federal prison in 2003 and entered the witness-protection program. The Chagras were known as key members of a so-called Dixie Mafia, heavily involved in drug smuggling. Donald asks the courts to let him tweet. It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment, the kind of drama that usually took place only in an episode of Perry Mason, John L. Smith wrote. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. A portrait of Federal Judge John H. Wood, Jr. hangs at the Federal Courthouse. Woody Harrelson funded his fathers appeals, enlisting the aid of controversial Jack Sheehan calls him the Pablo Escobar of weed. ." with Diane Harrelson{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Diane Harrelson", "gender": "Female" }. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Kerr, who had prosecuted several drug cases before Judge Wood, had barely escaped an assassination attempt some six months before Wood was killed. But his wife was not released and died of ovarian cancer at age 41. 3 ARE FOUND GUILTY IN ASSASSINATION OF FEDERAL JUDGE, https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/15/us/3-are-found-guilty-in-assassination-of-federal-judge.html. Joe Chagra ended up serving 6 years of his 10-year sentence, and he died in a car crash in El Paso in 1996 after his release. Over time, we became friends. Image of Jimmy Chagra in handcuffs courtesy of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. The case has prompted Mrs. Harrelson to attempt suicide and caused her to temporarily disown her two daughters for having affairs with Harrelson during their marriage. The next morning, May 29, using a high-powered rifle fitted with a scope, that man fired a shot that would be heard around the world. Guillermo has been with the Express-News for 20 years, and has covered federal court and its investigative agencies for most of that time. Jimmy Chagra, the high-stakes gambler who faced sentencing by Wood in a drug case shortly before the judge was killed, was cleared of conspiracy. In 2019, we had a staff of three and were serving maybe 150 individuals. Texas Lege Watch: A House Republican Fights for Chicken Freedom, Texas Monthly Recognized by ASME in the 2023 National Magazine Awards. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Judge Wood hated my brother Lee so much that he wanted a Chagra any way he could get him, Chagra said, according to a clip of the interviews posted on the internet. The trial grew out of one of the largest FBI investigations in history, taking three years and over $5 million. ''I asked him if he was the one who murdered Judge Wood, and he said he was,'' Mr. Chagra testified in a San Antonio Federal Court. Jo Ann Starr Harrelson: conspiracy to obstruct justice. Further, most of the evidence and testimony against Charles Harrelson had been gathered from prisoners who were offered reduced sentences in exchange for implicating Harrelson. A day after talking to Harrelson, Joe relayed what had been said about the Wood killing to his arrogant and tempestuous brother, who was furious. Yes, Chagra Russell continued. Judge Wood, known as "maximum John" because of the heavy sentences he had imposed on drug dealers, had presided over the pretrial hearing of Jamiel Chagra, denying 20 defense motions. - Steve Spain, Executive Director, Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity. Harrelson's jury found him guilty of murder of a federal employee, and he was also convicted on the charges of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to obstruct justice. If he didnt concoct a lie about how he was really part of the conspiracy, thus allowing him to testify against Harrelson, he believed he would face a total of thirty-five to forty years on drug charges. The reward was eventually paid out to a handful of people who included a horrible creton bankrobber who shared a jail cell with Charles Harrelson, a woman who delivered the $250,000 payout for the hit to Harrelson, and a kid who found a piece of the murder rifle in a creek bed, said Sam Millsap, who chaired the reward committee. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. He won the first ever Nevada Screenwriters Award in 1988 and the Lowell Thomas Award for outstanding travel writing in 1991. Russian defense minister visits front lines as Ukraine's hold on Bakhmut slips. Fire Ants Have Unleashed Chaos in Texas for Decades. A short time later, Joe was arrested and held without bail, as were Jo Ann Harrelson and Liz Chagra, Jimmys wife, who was heard on another wiretap talking about delivering the payoff money. You cant imagine the shock when Jimmy Chagra was acquitted.. He was 50. Another juror collapsed in her chair after the verdict was read and had to be helped from the courtroom. But Im sure the Wood family feels like they were robbed, too.