On Sept. 12, 55-year-old Jerome Woodland, of Minneapolis, was sentenced to 366 months in prison for killing his girlfriend in April 2021, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Wednesday.
“My condolences go out to the victim and her family,” Freeman said. “The damage caused by intimate partner violence is often deep and relentless. We hope this conviction and sentence begins to bring some degree of justice to the family.”
A jury found Woodland guilty on intentional second-degree murder-not premeditated, and unintentional second-degree murder while committing a felony on July 28, 2022.
According to the criminal complaint: On April 7, 2021, Minneapolis police were dispatched to an address on the 400 block of Ridgewood Avenue in the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County on reports of a bleeding female. The initial caller was panicked, screaming, and did not provide any information about what had occurred. In a follow up call by a second caller, a known adult male, hereinafter Witness 1, reported to police that a woman was bleeding in his bathroom and he believed she was dying.
Police arrived on scene and met with Witness 1 who was sitting in his living room in stocking feet. Bloody shoe prints were visible in the home. A known adult female, hereinafter Victim, was located in a rear room of the house with a visible stab wound to the chest. A bloodied butcher knife was located nearby. Victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Through investigation, police learned that Witness 1 was the homeowner and that he had been allowing JEROME ANTHONY WOODLAND, 8/4/67, the Defendant herein, to stay at his home in recent weeks. On April 7, 2021, Defendant was at the home with Witness 1 and Victim. Witness 1 stated he left the home to go to a doctor’s appointment and when he returned, Victim was injured in the back room. Initially, Witness 1 did not indicate Defendant was still in the home when he came back from the doctor but later Witness 1 confirmed Defendant was in the home and that Defendant was on the phone with 911 when Witness 1 arrived home. Defendant then fled out the back door and told Witness 1 to call for an ambulance. A neighbor reported to police that they observed Defendant running from the address shortly after hearing shrieks coming from the residence.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner concluded that Victim died as a result of a blunt force traumatic injury to her chest region.
Defendant was not immediately apprehended. Police interviewed at least two witnesses who had contact with Defendant after Victim’s death while Defendant was wanted by police. Witness 2 reported to police that Defendant told her that he and Victim argued and Victim “fell” on the knife causing her death. Witness 2 also stated Defendant told her he planned to attempt a “suicide by cop.” Witness 3 reported that Defendant told her over the phone that he was in trouble and that he really messed up. Defendant told Witness 3 that he and Victim had been fighting and that during the course of the fight that he was backing away from Victim and that she tripped and “the knife went in her.”
HCPO
