Town fights appeal by kin of man in police shooting

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. -- Lawyers for the town are asking a federal appeals court to throw out an appeal brought by the family of a man whom police officers fatally shot in a church three years ago.

Attorneys William Ellis and Nancy Sheahan argue in their 25-page brief to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that US District Judge J. Garvan Murtha was right when he found that the facts of the case were not in dispute.

In July Murtha ordered summary judgment for the town and police Officers Marshall Holbrook and Terrance Parker, who shot Robert Woodward seven times as he brandished a knife on the alter of the All Souls Unitarian Church on Dec. 2, 2001.

On the morning of his death, Woodward, 37, of Bellows Falls, entered the church, pulled out a knife with a 3-inch blade, and was addressing the congregation about conspiracies before police arrived.

According to witness accounts, Woodward had threatened suicide with the knife, but had not at any point hurt anyone before being shot seven times in his arms, stomach, and back.

The officers said Woodward was moving toward them with the knife when they opened fire.

"While attending to Woodward's medical needs, several people heard Woodward apologize to the officers and state that he had wanted the officers to shoot him," the town's attorneys wrote. Woodward died during surgery.

Last month, Joel Faxon of New Haven, Conn., and Thomas Costello of Brattleboro, attorneys representing Woodward's father, mother, and sister, filed for an appeal to Murtha's ruling, alleging that his ruling was based on facts that are hotly contested and required litigation before a trial jury.

The initial civil suit purports that Holbrook, Parker, and the town are liable for the shooting death of Woodward.