The death of Marchello Woodard, a 43-year-old father with weeks left of parole, left the Erie community in shock. Now, nearly a month after Woodard was shot multiple times by a Pennsylvania state parole officer on July 2, family and friends are left waiting for answers and justice.
The Justice for Chello Coalition was formed “to find justice, share information, educate, and make long lasting change,” according to the group’s Facebook page. It consists of seven individuals: Terry and Jerry Roberts, Deonte Cooley, Malcolm Pullium, Craig Woodard Sr., and Cyndi Treiber. Several members are related to or were close friends with Woodard. Treiber worked in the military for several years with experience in crisis management and worked on an investigative project on active duty military deaths – Treiber wanted to lend her knowledge and experience to the cause. “We all just sat down and we said, okay, we’re going to do whatever we have to do in an organized manner, with integrity, to get justice for Chello, and that’s what we’ve been doing,” Treiber said.
Since Woodard’s death, the coalition has been involved in organizing protests, sitting in and speaking at council meetings, and writing to the Erie County District Attorney. I had a chance to speak with Treiber about the coalition, Marchello, the homicide, the investigation, and what we, as a community, can do to prevent this from happening again…