A Maricopa County jury has imposed the death penalty on defendant Gustin Ray Woodman Jr. for the murder of 72-year-old Mark Woodruff.
According to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, in the early hours of June 24, 2014, Woodruff was found in the driver’s seat of his vehicle – which was still running and parked in his driveway – with a gunshot wound to the head. During the initial investigation, Glendale Police Department detectives found evidence that another gunshot had been fired through the car door, but only one 9MM shell casing was found near the victim.
Two days later, officers conducted a traffic stop on Woodman and while searching the vehicle found a 9MM Taurus handgun. When detectives analyzed the gun, they discovered a spent 9MM shell casing stuck in the chamber of the gun. The casing was analyzed by the Glendale Police Department’s Forensic Unit and found to be associated with the 9MM shell casing found at the scene of Woodruff’s murder.
From an interview with the defendant, detectives learned that Woodman had spotted the victim at a gas station, seen money in his wallet, and decided then to follow the victim and rob him.
Last October, a jury found Woodman guilty of one count of first-degree murder, a Class One Felony; one count of conspiracy to commit armed robbery with a deadly weapon, a Class Two Felony; armed robbery with a deadly weapon, a Class Two Felony; and one count of possession of a weapon by a prohibited person, a Class Four Felony.
Earlier this week, Woodman was sentenced to death for the first-degree murder charge and sentenced to an additional 15.75 years in prison for the remaining charges.