LANSING — A convicted murderer who nearly killed a corrections deputy at the Ingham County Jail last year while awaiting trial drew prison sentences Wednesday in connection with the attack.
Willie Charles Woods, 28, already was serving mandatory life in prison without parole for the 2020 killing of a man in Lansing. He was sentenced to 78 months to 10 years for assault with intent to do great bodily harm and 32 months to four years for disarming an officer.
“There is no ability to rehabilitate you,” Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina told Woods, adding that she hopes the sentences send a message that “peace-keeping officers” deserve to be respected.
The jail attack happened in January 2023, while Woods was awaiting trial in the killing of Erwin Stanley Bell, 66, who suffered dozens of knife wounds and blunt-force trauma to his face in November 2020. Woods was convicted of first-degee murder and armed robbery following a jury trial.
Woods ambushed a female deputy as she was doing her rounds and twice knocked her unconscious, authorities said. He pleaded no contest to disarming an officer and assault with intent to do great bodily harm. A count of assault with intent to murder was dismissed.