Murder suspect says he'll plead guilty
Victim's father decries accused's access to media
The father of a Walpole man shot to death in a Conway, N.H., military surplus store last week said yesterday he is glad the accused shooter plans to plead guilty and hopes Michael Woodbury goes to prison as soon as possible.
Woodbury, 31, who told reporters last week that he killed three people in the store during a botched robbery attempt, told the Portland Press Herald in an interview published yesterday that he will plead guilty and serve his sentence.
"I hope he doesn't get a lawyer who will change [his mind], and I hope he goes to prison as soon as possible," Kenny Jones said in a telephone interview yesterday. "A lengthy trial would not be good for my family, but if there is one, we'll be there every day."
Woodbury is charged with killing Jones's son, William Jones, 25; Gary Jones, 23, of Plymouth; and James Walker, 34, of Denmark, Maine, who managed the Army Barracks store. William and Gary Jones are not related.
Woodbury -- a Windham, Maine, resident who is being held in a New Hampshire jail pending a probable cause hearing next Wednesday -- also told the Press Herald during an interview at the jail Tuesday that he will not enter an insanity plea.
Woodbury told reporters outside a Maine courthouse last Thursday that he warned prison officials he would be a threat when he was released without probation in May after serving a five-year sentence for robbery.
But Tuesday he told the Press Herald: "I'm sane now. I was sane then. And there's no excuses. I'm just going to take it."
Woodbury declined an interview request from the Globe yesterday.
Woodbury said he shot Walker, then shot William Jones and Gary Jones when they intervened, according to the Press Herald.
The two friends had stopped in the store on their way home from a biking and hiking trip.
Woodbury said he was sorry for killing Walker but not the two friends, who he said should not have gotten involved.
Kenny Jones, also of Walpole, called Woodbury's lack of remorse "disgusting."
"I just cannot stress the pride I have in my son and in Gary," Kenny Jones said. "[Woodbury] is a coward for shooting three defenseless people."
Kenny Jones also said he is upset with Woodbury's access to the media.
"Don't give him a soapbox," he said. "Talk about the two boys, talk about the man behind the counter with two children. [Woodbury] killed my son.
"He ripped a hole in my heart a mile wide, and he has destroyed three good families."
Ryan Haggerty can be reached at rhaggerty@globe.com. 