Charles Harrelson

Case details

Charles Voyde Harrelson (born July 23, 1938 – March 15, 2007) was an American freelance hitman connected with organized crime. He was the father of actor Woody Harrelson.

Timeline

• July 23, 1938 — Charles Voyde Harrelson was born.
• June 1968 — Harrelson lost a shipment of heroin in Kansas City, MO after a traffic stop.
• July 6, 1968 — Harrelson committed the murder for hire of Sam Degelia Jr.
• November 14, 1968 — Two witnesses identified Scamardo and Harrelson together near Mumford, Texas.
• November 15, 1968 — Scamardo’s wife’s new car was reported stolen.
• November 15, 1968 — Harrelson’s new car was reported stolen.
• November 19, 1968 — Harrelson was arrested in Atlanta, GA in possession of a new car reported stolen on November 15, 1968.
• November 19, 1968 — Harrelson was arrested in Atlanta, GA in possession of Scamardo’s wife’s new car reported stolen on November 15, 1968.
• March 31, 1970 — A jury of 6 men and 6 women convicted Pete Scamardo as an accomplice to murder and sentenced him to a seven year probated sentence.
• September 13, 1970 — Scamardo and an attorney, Owen Stidham, asked Bob Musser to falsify a polygraph report for Scamardo.
• December 7, 1968 — Scamardo was scheduled for arrest (Musser later testified about the polygraph falsification three months before this arrest).
• 1974 — Harrelson was retried in Brownsville, Texas for the Degelia murder.
• May 29, 1979 — U.S. District Judge John H. Wood, Jr. was assassinated.
• 1982 — Harrelson remarked to Dallas TV station KDFW-TV about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
• December 14, 1982 — Harrelson was sentenced to two life terms.
• 1996 — Harrelson attempted to escape from the Atlanta federal penitentiary.
• 1996 — Harrelson was transferred to Supermax prison ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado.
• 2003 — Harrelson’s Federal Bureau of Prisons register number holder Jimmy Chagra’s release occurred, and Jimmy Chagra claimed Harrelson did not murder Judge Wood.
• March 15, 2007 — Harrelson was found unresponsive in his cell and died of severe coronary artery disease.

Background

Harrelson was an organized crime-connected freelance hitman and the father of actor Woody Harrelson.

The offence

Assassination of U.S. District Judge John H. Wood, Jr.

Harrelson was convicted of assassinating U.S. District Judge John H. Wood, Jr. The assassination occurred on May 29, 1979, and Harrelson was convicted of shooting and killing Wood in the parking lot outside of Wood’s San Antonio, Texas townhouse.

Wood had been nicknamed “Maximum John” because of his reputation for handing down long sentences for drug offenses. Wood had been scheduled to have Jamiel Chagra appear before him on the day of his murder, but the trial had been delayed. Harrelson was hired by drug dealer Jamiel Chagra of El Paso.

Harrelson claimed at trial that he did not kill Wood, but merely took credit for it so he could score a huge payout from Chagra.

Both Harrelson and Chagra’s brother Joe were implicated in the assassination.

Harrelson was sentenced to two life terms on December 14, 1982, for the May 29, 1979 assassination.

Murder for hire of Sam Degelia Jr. (Hearne, Texas father of four; grain dealer)

Before the Wood murder, Harrelson was tried for the 1968 murder for hire killing of Hearne, Texas father of four and grain dealer Sam Degelia Jr., by his business partner and childhood friend since the second grade, Pete Thomas Scamardo, in McAllen, Texas.

Scamardo had been trafficking heroin across the Mexican border, and Harrelson had been distributing the drugs.

After Harrelson lost a shipment of heroin in Kansas City, MO following a traffic stop in June 1968, Scamardo pressured Harrelson into committing the murder for hire.

Harrelson committed the murder for hire on July 6, 1968.

Investigation

Harrelson was apprehended with the aid of:

• an anonymous tip; and
• a taped conversation between Jimmy (Jamiel) and his brother, Joe Chagra.

Arrest

Harrelson was arrested on November 19, 1968 in Atlanta, GA in possession of:

• a new car reported stolen on November 15, 1968; and
• Scamardo’s wife’s new car reported stolen on November 15, 1968.

Trial

Degelia murder trial (Pete Scamardo; hung jury; retrial)

Harrelson’s attorney was Percy Foreman. Foreman had been counsel for convicted Martin Luther King assassin James Earl Ray and had lost only 53 of 1500 death-penalty cases with only one finally resulting in execution.

At Harrelson’s first trial, Foreman produced a surprise witness: a nightclub singer who claimed she had been with Harrelson at the time of the murder. The trial ended in a hung jury, with 11 for conviction and one for acquittal.

Harrelson was retried in 1974 in Brownsville, Texas.

Texas Ranger Tol Dawson was in the courtroom with a perjury arrest warrant for the nightclub singer, but she had learned of it and fled to Aruba. Without the help of her testimony, Harrelson was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison. With time off for good behavior, he was free in five years.

Earlier, on March 31, 1970, in spite of the prosecutor seeking the death penalty, a jury of 6 men and 6 women convicted Pete Scamardo as an accomplice to murder and sentenced him to a seven year probated sentence. The jury reached a guilty verdict in 12 hours and then deliberated an hour and 22 minutes before settling on a probated sentence.

Bob Musser, a Houston Polygraph examiner, testified that on September 13, 1970, Scamardo and an attorney, Owen Stidham, asked him to falsify a polygraph report for Scamardo, three months before Scamardo’s arrest on December 7, 1968. Musser also testified that Scamardo and Stidham had related facts to him that implicated Scamardo in the murder of Sam Degelia Jr.

Details of the murder, told by Jerry Watkins, were corroborated by independent testimony from Harrelson’s girlfriend, Sandra Sue Attaway. Jerry Watkins was described as the driver of the vehicle used to kidnap and kill Sam Degelia; he was stated to be the only witness to the murder.

Two witnesses identified Scamardo and Harrelson together on November 14, 1968 near Mumford, Texas. Harrelson’s rental car was later found submerged in 20 feet of water.

Wood judge assassination trial (Harrelson, Joe Chagra, Jimmy Chagra)

At trial, Harrelson claimed he did not kill Wood but took credit for it to score a huge payout from Chagra.

Harrelson was eventually convicted based largely on Chagra’s conversation with his brother who was visiting him in prison.

Harrelson was convicted of being the gunman. He received a life imprisonment sentence. Joe Chagra received a ten-year sentence.

Jamiel Chagra was acquitted of the murder when Joe Chagra refused to testify against him. Jamiel Chagra was represented by Oscar Goodman, who had been described as the current mayor of Las Vegas.

In a plea bargain, Jamiel Chagra admitted his role in the murder of Judge Wood and the attempted murder of a U.S. Attorney.

After his release in 2003, Jimmy Chagra claimed that Harrelson did not murder Judge Wood. Chagra did not identify the real killer but indicated that the real killer was long deceased.

Jamiel and Joe Chagra allegedly misled federal officials by talking about hiring Harrelson to kill Judge Wood while they were illegally taped during a legal visit in prison, because Harrelson had been blackmailing Joe Chagra with information he did have about the murder of the judge.

Sentencing

• Harrelson was sentenced to two life terms on December 14, 1982 for the May 29, 1979 assassination of U.S. District Judge John H. Wood, Jr.
• Harrelson was sentenced to life imprisonment (for the Wood assassination, as described in relation to sentencing outcomes).
• Harrelson was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the July 6, 1968 murder for hire conviction after his retrial in 1974. He was free in five years with time off for good behavior.
• Harrelson was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1973 and was released from prison in September 1978.

Appeals

Woody Harrelson attempted to have his father’s conviction overturned in order to secure a new trial, without success.

Outcome

District Judge John H. Wood, Jr., and he was sentenced to two life terms on December 14, 1982.

Other details

Family and associates

Harrelson was the father of actor Woody Harrelson.

Jimmy (Jamiel) and Joe Chagra were connected to the Wood assassination. Oscar Goodman represented Jamiel Chagra.

The description of Jimmy Chagra’s wife also included that she received “several years” and died in prison in 1987.

U.S. Attorney attempted murder admission

Jamiel Chagra’s plea bargain included admission to the attempted murder of a U.S. Attorney.

Kennedy assassination statements and claims about “three tramps”

Harrelson mentioned in an early confession to the Wood murder that he shot President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963.

He later repeatedly denied his role in the shooting of the President, for which no connection was found.

Conspiracy theorists labeled him as one of the “Three Tramps” hiding in a box car on the railroad tracks behind Dealey Plaza just after the shooting, and Harrelson at various times before his death boasted about his role as one of the tramps.

Harrelson had previously denied being in Dallas on the day of the assassination.

Harrelson remarked to Dallas TV station KDFW-TV in 1982:

"Do you believe that Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy, alone, without any aid from a rogue agency of the US government or at least a portion that agency? I believe you are very naive if you do ."

Escape attempt and imprisonment

After attempting to escape from the Atlanta federal penitentiary in 1996, Harrelson was transferred to Supermax prison ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado.

In a letter to a friend, Harrelson wrote that he enjoyed his life inside the maximum security facility, writing:

"there are not enough hours in a day for my needs as a matter of fact... The silence is wonderful"

Death

Harrelson was found unresponsive in his cell on March 15, 2007, having died of severe coronary artery disease.

His Federal Bureau of Prisons Register number was 02582-016.