Members of the Erie community have been coming to Erie City Council meetings for months, demanding justice for Marchello D. Woodard, the 43-year-old Erie resident fatally shot by his state parole agent in July.
City Council took official action regarding Woodard’s death on Dec. 3.
The seven-member panel unanimously approved a resolution “requesting transparency and timely public updates” regarding the ongoing investigation into Woodard’s death.
This is an undated photo of Marchello Woodard, victim of a fatal shooting by Pennsylvania parole agents on July 2, displayed during a birthday celebration of his life in Erie on July 22.
While City Council has no jurisdiction over the investigation, the resolution states that “as elected leaders, we have a moral obligation to ensure that reforms that can be offered to prevent such tragedy should be pursued,” and “the public has a legitimate interest in knowing the status of investigations involving the use of lethal force by state officials operating within the city of Erie.”
The resolution was sponsored by council member Tyler Titus.
Calls for transparency continue
Council’s passage of the resolution was applauded by many of those who attended the meeting in the Bagnoni Council Chambers at City Hall.
The audience included members of Woodard’s family and community members who continue to call for transparency in the probe and for charges to be filed over his death.
“I thank you for this resolution and doing what you can do in your power,” Erie’s Shateria Franklin, an entrepreneur and the mother of Woodard’s 8-year-old son Major, told council members. “I just want to say how important this is for our family.”
Investigation update: DA sees ‘steady progress’ in Woodard probe 5 months after killing
Woodard, known as Chello, was shot multiple times while in his car near his girlfriend’s house on East 27th Street between Parade and Wallace streets shortly before 10 p.m. on July 2.
State police have said the parole agent and his partner, also a state parole agent, had approached Woodard’s car to do a compliance check of Woodard, whose parole in a 2017 drug case was to expire in 16 days.
A sign in support of homicide victim Marchello Woodard is posted in a yard on East Second Street, near German Street in Erie.
Woodard’s death was ruled a homicide. The two state parole agents have not been publicly identified by authorities..
City Council’s resolution also calls for:
Inviting representatives from the Erie County District Attorney’s Office and the Pennsylvania Board of Probation & Parole “to appear at a public meeting of Erie City Council to address questions related to transparency, communication, and investigative progress.”
Officials to release “all non-sensitive, nonprejudicial information to the public to the fullest extent permitted by law, including body camera footage, dashboard camera footage, and any other video or audio recordings, while respecting due process rights and the integrity of the investigation.”
Copies of the legislation to be sent to Gov. Josh Shapiro; the commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police; Erie County District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz; the Pennsylvania Board of Probation & Parole; Erie County Executive Brenton Davis; and Erie County Council Chairman Terry Scutella.
Members of the audience broke out in applause and chants of “Chello!” after City Council’s unanimous vote.
DA says probe making ‘steady progress’
Hirz said in a statement to the Erie Times-News on Dec. 2 that her office is making “steady progress” in its probe of Woodard’s death.
Hirz gave no timeline on when her office expects to decide on whether to file charges over Woodard’s death, but said the case is her office’s “top priority” and that her office and the Pennsylvania State Police continue to review evidence.
Probate records filed in Erie County Common Pleas Court indicate that Woodard’s family plans to sue over the shooting. Nationally-known civil rights lawyer Ben Crump is representing Woodard’s family.
Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on X at@ETNflowers.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: In Woodward shooting probe, Erie City Council requests transparency