The Lackawanna County DA seeks the death penalty for Michael Woods, accused of a fatal machete attack

SCRANTON, Pa. — The Lackawanna County district attorney’s office will pursue the death penalty against a man they said stabbed to death two women and injured a third woman at the Jermyn Apartments late last year in downtown Scranton.

However, the notice filed Tuesday to seek the death penalty against Michael Willie Marquis Woods is largely symbolic because the state of Pennsylvania has had a moratorium on executions for more than a decade and Gov. Josh Shapiro has declined to lift the ban. The last time someone was put to death in Pennsylvania was 1999. 

In a statement, District Attorney Brian Gallagher said the “singular depravity” Woods exhibited in the crime required the accountability found in the state’s harshest punishment.

“Seeking the death penalty is not about vengeance,” Gallagher said in a statement. “It’s about justice and acknowledging the profound harm inflicted on innocent victims and ensuring that the legal system responds appropriately. Asking a jury of citizens to consider the ultimate punishment under the law carries immense moral and legal weight. But when the law and the facts demand it, I have a duty to stand firmly on behalf of the victims and our community.”

Woods was accused of attacking residents of the Jermyn Apartments in December. Armed with a machete, police said he killed Linda Fortuna, 61, and Terry Muller, 59, as well as Muller’s Golden Retriever service dog, Nayla. The attack also critically wounded another woman, Marilyn Waller, 66.

After a preliminary hearing Mach 6, Magisterial District Judge Christopher Szewczyk ruled prosecutors presented enough evidence to warrant a trial on a litany of charges that include two counts of first-degree murder.

Death penalty cases are different because the trial is separated into two phases. 

In the first phase, a jury hears the evidence and decides if the state proved the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. If the jury finds the defendant guilty of first-degree murder, the state has to make another case to the jurors that the aggravating circumstances of the crime — elements that make it especially heinous — outweigh the mitigating factors that reduce the defendant’s culpability. 

In death penalty cases, the prosecution has to file a formal notice of what aggravating circumstances it intends to pursue. In Tuesday’s filing, Gallagher outlined four:

Woods committed multiple murders.Woods committed a killing in the perpetration of another felony.In committing multiple murders, Woods knowingly created a grave risk of death to another person in addition to the victim of each intentional killing.The murder was committed by means of torture.

“When crimes of this magnitude occur in our community, the justice system must respond with resolve,” Gallagher said. “That is exactly what we are doing.”

Woods is due back in court for a formal arraignment Thursday. He remains locked up without bail at the Lackawanna County Prison.