A Jacksonville man accused of tampering with power lines in Cabot and Jacksonville and setting an electrical switching station on fire in Scott was arraigned Thursday in a Little Rock federal courtroom on eight charges filed against him last week.
Jason Woodring, 37, was one of a handful of shackled prisoners brought before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joe Volpe for a series of brief plea and arraignments in midafternoon.
After most of the other defendants were formally arraigned and then escorted from the courtroom by deputy U.S. marshals, to await transport back to jail, Volpe called Woodring to a courtroom lectern and began a series of standard questions by asking, “Are you Jason Woodring?”
Woodring, wearing a dark blue shirt and pants denoting his status as an inmate at the Pulaski County jail, did not reply, standing silently with his hands cuffed in front of him.
Volpe asked the question again, and Woodring, flanked by defense attorney Chris Tarver of the federal public defender’s office, turned his head to the side, away from the microphone, and backed up, raising his chin.
“Well, I’m not really sure what to do here,” Volpe replied, glancing at Tarver, who shrugged.
Volpe then told Woodring to “have a seat” until after the one remaining defendant was arraigned, saying, “We’ll take care of this other matter and get back to you.”
Minutes later, Woodring was again called to the lectern, and again he turned away from the microphone.
“Is this an issue of defiance, or has Mr. Woodring got a mental problem?” Volpe asked, getting no response. He then asked a deputy marshal and Tarver if they’d had any trouble communicating with Woodring on Thursday, and both replied that they hadn’t.
The judge then asked Woodring directly, “Is there some reason you’re not speaking?”
Woodring shook his head and then spoke directly into the microphone, saying, “I have the right to remain silent, do I not?”
Volpe told him he needed to cooperate to get through the arraignment process. The judge then continued with the arraignment by reading aloud the charges against Woodring and the potential penalties involved, and setting a tentative jury trial date of Dec. 24 before U.S. District Judge Bill Wilson, noting that prosecutors have said they expect their case to take five days to present.
Woodring made no further comments, and Tarver waived a formal reading of the indictment - a standard procedure at arraignments - and told the judge, “We will preserve the issue of bond until a later date.”
In concluding the brief hearing, Volpe noted, “Mr. Woodring’s not making a good case for bond here.”
Deputy marshals then escorted him out without encountering any resistance.
The indictment against Woodring, which a federal grand jury handed up Nov. 6, includes a terrorism charge that is punishable by a potential life sentence upon conviction. The charge accuses him of carrying out a terrorist attack on a railroad carrier, in connection with the Aug. 21 sabotage of a high-voltage power-line support tower in Cabot.
A high-voltage power line that someone had loosened while dismantling the 100-foot-tall tower fell on a railroad track that day and was struck by a passing train, causing a brief power failure in Cabot.
Woodring is also facing charges of destruction of an energy facility in connection with the Aug. 21 crime; a fire set Aug. 29 at an extra-high-voltage switching station in Scott; and in the Oct. 6 downing of two power poles, one with the aid of a stolen tractor, which caused a power failure in Jacksonville.
The electrical tampering attracted the attention of the FBI, especially after authorities investigating the switching station fire found a handwritten sign reading, “You should have expected U.S.”
Woodring was arrested Oct. 8 after several callers reported an explosion near Woodring’s home at 1012 John Shelton Road, and investigators traced it to a place under some power lines. They also reported finding a hose at Woodring’s home that was similar to evidence found at another sabotage scene.
Authorities have said that Woodring admitted to multiple acts of power-grid sabotage. However, a motive hasn’t been revealed.
Meanwhile, Woodring is also awaiting trial in Pulaski County Circuit Court, where he is charged with two felony counts of criminal mischief, one stemming from 2011 and one from this year.
Court records show that he was arrested July 22, 2011, at 3300 Valentine Road in North Little Rock on a warrant in connection with an event July 13, 2010, in which a North Little Rock man’s 2004 Chevrolet Silverado was damaged. The details of that event weren’t available Thursday.
A Jacksonville police report shows he was arrested in connection with vandalism that occurred July 15, 2013, outside the home at 1100 Ferrell Drive. Margie Stone told police that someone had poured green paint all over her white 2012 Toyota Avalon during the night, and that she suspected Woodring because she’d had an altercation with him in January at a Lowe’s store. Stone told police that Woodring had damaged her car during the January altercation, and his trial on a criminal mischief charge in that case was approaching. She requested extra patrols around her home, and the officer reported seeing green paint on the rear, sides, front and top of the car.
After the report, which led to a new charge against Woodring, prosecutors moved to revoke his bond in the 2010 incident, but a judge refused to issue the revocation and Woodring never showed up at the September trial. A warrant was then issued charging him with failure to appear, with instructions to hold him without bail upon his arrest. The warrant was later recalled, however, and Woodring’s trial was reset for Oct. 23. By that time, however, he was in federal custody and a circuit court judge had ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation, which canceled the trial.
According to an obituary, an infant son born to Woodring and Amanda Byrd died Sept. 20, 2007. The cause of death for Jason Trevor Alan Watson wasn’t noted.
Information for this article was contributed by John Lynch of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 11/15/2013