By Stone Martindale Mar 22, 2007, 2:11 GMT
Actor Woody Harrelson’s father, Charles Harrelson, died in Supermax prison where he was serving two life sentences for the murder of a federal judge, officials releasing the information in a statement Wednesday.
Woody Harrelson - Hollywood, CA © Glenn Harris / Photorazzi
The Cincinnati Enquirer lists that Harrelson, 69, was found unresponsive in his cell on on March 15th and apparently died of natural causes, according to Felicia Ponce, a Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman.
May 29, 1979, Harrelson was convicted of killing a U.S. District Judge John Wood Jr. outside his San Antonio, Texas, home.
Prosecutors argued that a drug dealer hired Harrelson to kill Wood because the dealer did not want the judge to preside at his upcoming trial.
Harrelson denied the killing, saying he was in Dallas, 270 miles away, at the time.
Wood had the moniker “Maximum John” for the stiff sentences he gave in drug cases, and the Enquirer lists he was the "first federal judge to be killed in the 20th century."
Harrelson was incarcerated at Supermax, a high-security federal prison, after attempting an escape from an Atlanta federal prison in 1995.
Woody Harrelson told the Associated Press in 1988 that he wanted to made a movie based on his father’s life and play the lead.
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