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Jurors want six years in the beating of friend
Jury recommends 6 years for brutal beating
Date published: 11/21/2008
BY KEITH EPPS A Fredericksburg jury late Wednesday recommended a six-year prison term for a man who left his badly beaten friend lying in the street, then drove away in the victim's Hummer. Jason Paul Woods, 30, of Stafford County, was found guilty of unlawful wounding and unauthorized use of a vehicle. Judge Gordon Willis will formally sentence Woods on Jan. 14. The jury chose not to convict Woods of a more serious malicious wounding charge. Jeffrey Martens was unconscious and shirtless when witnesses saw him on State Route 3 near Central Park early Dec. 12, 2006. Martens, who has since moved to Ohio, has been through nine surgeries since the beating and has permanent injuries. Martens has no recollection of the beating, but witnesses testified that they saw a man pummeling Martens about 4 a.m. that day. Police later determined that the attacker was Woods. According to testimony, Woods and Martens were part of a group of friends who got together in Washington and Northern Virginia that night to party and drink. Their last stop was the Russia House in Washington, where members of the group drank vodka and beer. Martens and his wife, Julie Martens, had a disagreement toward the end of the night and she refused to ride home with her husband. Woods and his girlfriend, Sarah Cardoza, drove Martens in the Hummer while Julie Martens rode back to the Fredericksburg area with someone else. Woods and Cardoza testified that Martens was out of control by the end of the evening. They said that after leaving the Russia House, Martens took off his clothes and was chasing cars. Woods said he was finally able to get Martens into the vehicle and head south. Woods said he had to pull over on Interstate 95 because Martens was trying to climb out of a back window. He got out of the car again and ran around. "He was really acting the fool," Woods testified. Woods said that by the time they got to the Fredericksburg area, he'd forgotten that he left his Jaguar in a North Stafford commuter lot. Instead he headed for Outback Steakhouse off the Route 3 exit, where he thought the car was.
Read more stories about Stafford Date published: 11/21/2008
It sounds like
(posted by
TheDr5544
, Nov. 21, 2008 4:43 pm)
Martens was pretty well hammered and probably fairly belligerent if he was running around naked and chasing cars, so if he was in fact reaching over the car seat and hitting Woods while Woods was driving, he (Martens) certainly has a share of the blame in this case as well. This sounds very much like a case of 2 drunken idiots/friends who got into it with each other and let things go too far. Unfortunately when people don't drink responsibly, things like this seem to happen far too often.
This is classic
(posted by
fugyou
, Nov. 21, 2008 7:48 am)
Beer, Vodka, too much money, and 4a.m. Do you know how many stories like this have started out similarly? :P I wonder if the victim is still drinking vodka, beer and running the streets at 4am, out of his mind?
Violent crime
(posted by
Talisman
, Nov. 21, 2008 5:33 am)
Violent crime calls for harsh punishment. Judge Willis will likely take this sentence to the legal limit like he does for non violent offenders. Maybe, just maybe, he will think this is no more violent than a rape and sentence him to 45 years with 44 suspended. I'm not sure Judge Willis has his priorities right but we will see with this sentence.
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