Convicted murderer hurls insults at Ingham County judge during sentencing hearing
LANSING — A man who murdered a 66-year-old man with knives and a BB gun and is accused of brutally attacking a corrections officer hurled insults at a judge and urged her to hurry things up during a heated courtroom exchange on Wednesday.
Willie Charles Woods told Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, "I don't like your ugly ass," and "It's my (expletive) life." He also referred to her as a "white bitch" and a "demon" during the hearing
"Why don't you give me my time so I can get out of here?" Woods said.
"Your victim does not have a life," Aquilina said in response to Woods' comment about his life. She also told him, "The longer you keep swearing," the longer the hearing would take. She eventually imposed the mandatory sentence of life in prison without chance of parole for first-degree murder.
Woods, 27, was convicted of murdering Erwin Stanley Bell, who was found dead in his apartment in the 5900 block of Richwood Street in late November 2020. A jury also found Woods guilty of armed robbery.
Bell suffered 52 knife wounds and blunt-force trauma to his face, according to testimony. Woods was found inside a bathroom of Bell's apartment when police showed up for a welfare check.
"A man who had reformed his life and was helping others suffered for hours in a closet, all alone, bleeding," Aquilina said, describing the penalty as proportionate to Woods' crimes. "You treated him like garbage and then you stole from him."
Woods claimed he was trying to collect on a drug debt when the killing happened. But prosecutors contended Bell was killed during a robbery and that the killing was pre-meditated. Two long-bladed kitchen knives and a BB gun fashioned to look like a real gun were found at the scene.
On Wednesday, Deputy Chief Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Bill Crino described the killing as "absolutely gruesome" and said Bell's family suffered "an unthinkable loss." There was overwhelming evidence Woods commited both first-degree, premeditated murder and first-degree, felony murder, he said.
Woods also is charged with trying to kill a female deputy at the Ingham County Jail in January, while he was awaiting trial in the murder case.
Authorities said he ambushed the deputy as she was completing her rounds and twice knocked her unconscious. A hearing to determine whether he should stand trial on the charges is set for later this month.
On Wednesday, Woods told Aquilina he just wanted to "get this over with so I can get on the phone and call my people." He interrupted her several times while she was speaking and made derogatory references to her family.
"Let's get this over," he said at one point, adding, "I'm sitting in front of this white bitch here ..."
As the hearing progressed, Aquilina engaged in a stare-down with Woods and refused to hurry the proceedings.
"You cared more about your illegal drugs, illegal drug money, than the life of an old man," she said. "You can't even … say that you are sorry, can't have enough dignity to own up to what you did and apologize."
The judge sentenced Woods to a concurrent 30- to 75-year term for armed robbery and ordered that he have no contact with Bell's family or her family.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Convicted murder hurls insults at Ingham County judge during hearing
