Ailing man, 86, accused in wife’s death misses hearing

Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Sun

Deputy public defenders Kristine Kuzemka and Dan Silverstein, right, speak with Joseph Woods, 86, during a hearing before Justice of the Peace Nancy Oesterle on Oct. 8 at the Regional Justice Center.

By Cara McCoy

Friday, Oct. 23, 2009 | 11:32 a.m.

10th Street Shootings

Metro Police investigate the circumstances of shootings that left an 80-year-old woman dead and an 86-year-old man injured Thursday morning in the 1800 block of 10th Street, which is near St. Louis Avenue and Maryland Parkway.

Launch slideshow »

Police: Man, 86, told paramedics he shot wife; note found (9-25-09)

Shooting location

An 86-year-old man accused of shooting his wife to death then shooting himself missed another court hearing this morning due to health issues, his attorney said.

Deputy Public Defender Dan Silverstein said today that his client, Joseph Woods, was taken to University Medical Center on Wednesday to be treated for his continuing health problems.

Although Woods is at UMC, he remains in the custody of the Clark County Detention Center. He's charged with murder with use of a deadly weapon in the death of his wife, Kay.

Silverstein said Woods' continued incarceration was contributing to his health issues. He asked Justice of the Peace Nancy Oesterle to lower his bail and allow him to be released to a nursing home.

Oesterle will address those issues at a hearing Oct. 28.

Silverstein also asked that Woods' family be permitted to visit him at the hospital. Because he is still considered a prisoner, jail rules don't permit them to see him.

"I don't know how much longer he's going to be with us, your honor," Silverstein said. "If he remains in custody, he's not going to make it."

The elderly couple suffered physically from serious health problems and tried to end their lives on Sept. 23, according to court documents. Police said Joseph Woods shot his wife then himself in the bedroom of their home at 1808 S. 10th Street.

The couple's children found them the next morning. Joseph was still breathing but Kay was dead, an arrest report indicated.

Their daughter found a note on the kitchen table that read: "Sorry, please forgive us, take care of Lilly, Ma and Pa." The name "Lilly" wasn't mentioned elsewhere in the report.

Comment
Print
E-mail
Share
- Facebook
- Fark
- Digg
- Reddit
- Stumble
Tweet

Discussion: comment so far…

Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.

Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.

No trusted comments have been posted.

By Teaser

Oct. 23, 2009

1:26 p.m.

Flag

Or at least just let him go free. This isn't the kind of guy who's going to go on a mass shooting spree. The fact that he and his wife felt forced to have to take the actions they did - in a society that tosses the elderly to the side - is enough punishment already. I doubt either of them wanted to pursue their course of action. It's not like you can make an example of this person; if anything, he and his wife are examples of what our society values.