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Jury imposes death penalty to man convicted of killing church volunteer in Glendale

A Maricopa County jury has imposed the death penalty for a man found guilty of shooting a 72-year-old church volunteer in Glendale.

PHOENIX — A Maricopa County jury has sentenced a defendant to death after he was found guilty of murdering a 72-year-old man as he was driving home from volunteering at his local church, officials said. 

Gustin R. Woodman Jr., 34, received a death sentence earlier this week after he was convicted of killing Mark Woodruff nearly a decade ago. 

On June 24, 2014, the victim was found dead in his car from a gunshot wound to the head. Glendale police recovered a shell casing from the scene which later matched to a handgun found in Woodman's car during a traffic stop two days later.

Glendale police learned Woodman had spotted the victim at a gas station and decided to follow Woodruff and rob him. 

Court records show Woodman was indicted for Woodruff's murder a couple of months after the crime. But the case was dismissed in 2020 and prosecutors re-indicted Woodman and a second defendant associated with the case. 

The other defendant was sentenced to 25 years in prison. 

Woodman went to trial last year and was found guilty of first-degree murder and armed robbery.

The victim's son told 12News he thought the defendant received "a fair trial" and that prosecutors honored his father's memory by "getting justice for him."

“I hope this sentence can bring some semblance of closure to the Woodruff family and the community of faith he loved so much," Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a statement.

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