On this day, May 29, in 1979, hired hit man Charles Harrelson, father of actor Woody Harrelson, gunned down a federal judge in San Antonio.
Charles Harrelson was paid $250,000 by Texas drug kingpin Jimmy Chagra to kill U.S. District Judge John Wood Jr., known as “Maximum John” for handing down the harshest terms against drug traffickers. Wood was about to sentence Chagra.
The judge was fatally shot outside his San Antonio home while checking a flat tire.
Bullet fragments at the scene were traced to the wife of Charles Harrelson, who had just gotten out of prison for another murder. He was convicted and sentenced to two life terms.
After a failed escape attempt in 1996, he was moved to the Supermax prison in Colorado.
Charles Harrelson died of a heart attack on March 15, 2007, at age 69.
Scott McCabe
