Jury finds McCandless guilty of first degree intentional homicide
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — Following a three-week trial, a Dunn County jury has found Ezra J. McCandless guilty of first degree intentional homicide in the death of Alexander Woodworth in the Town of Spring Brook in March of 2018.
Judge James Peterson excused the jury to deliberate at 4:57 p.m. Friday, November 1, and the jury returned with a verdict of guilty at 8:23 p.m.
McCandless, who was 20 years old at the time, stabbed the 24-year-old Woodworth 16 times.
Woodworth’s body was discovered in McCandless’s car in the Town of Spring Brook, south of Elk Mound, on Friday, March 23, 2018.
McCandless’s attorneys, Aaron Nelson and D. Vishny, argued that McCandless had stabbed Woodworth in self defense.
McCandless and Woodworth had dated, although McCandless had broken off the relationship approximately one month before his death and had told Woodworth she never wanted to see him again. There was no indication Woodworth had attempted to contact McCandless after that, but on March 22, 2018, McCandless went to Woodworth’s apartment in Eau Claire to return several items and to talk about their relationship.
She had been living with her stepfather in Stanley.
The prosecution — Dunn County District Attorney Andrea Nodolf and state Assistant Attorney General Richard Dufour — said McCandless had lured Woodworth to his death in the farm field that was out of sight of the road.
Woodworth was a philosophy student at UW-Eau Claire and had been planning to apply for graduate school.
In his closing argument, Dufour said McCandless had wanted Woodworth to say their relationship had been a mistake because she wanted to get back together with a previous boyfriend, a man in his 30s named Jason Mengel.
Court TV televised the trial, and while McCandless’s face was mostly somber and expressionless prior to that, when Mengel walked into the courtroom to take the witness stand, McCandless appeared unable to keep herself from smiling .
Mengel, a witness for the prosecution, said he had met McCandless at Racy’s coffeehouse in Eau Claire.
Woodworth worked at Racy’s.
McCandless, who lived in Eau Claire then, spent time at Racy’s.
McCandless had lived with Mengel at one point, had become pregnant, had decided she did not want the baby, and had gone to the Twin Cities for an abortion.
Concern
On the day McCandless went to Woodworth’s apartment, Mengel followed her on his bicycle because he was concerned about the well-being of both of them. He said he had seen “a fire in her eyes” he had never seen before.
Mengel is an Army medic.
The Eau Claire Police Department was called because someone was concerned about Mengel “lurking” across the street, and Mengel convinced law enforcement to check on the welfare of McCandless and Woodworth. They said they were fine, and eventually they left in McCandless’s car at a little after 1 p.m. March 22 with McCandless driving.
At a little after 4 p.m. that afternoon, a Town of Spring Brook resident called Dunn County dispatch to say a woman had arrived at his residence on foot. The man said the woman was bleeding, her clothes were torn, she was not wearing any shoes and her pants were covered in mud.
A Dunn County deputy and a Wisconsin state trooper responded to the residence. When the trooper asked if the woman was from Eau Claire, she said she was, but she was unable to provide an address or her name. When the trooper asked if there was anyone they could contact for her, she said they could contact Jason Mengel, according to the criminal complaint.
The woman was transported by ambulance to Mayo-Eau Claire. The deputy followed, and as the woman was being treated by medical staff, she said her name was Ezra McCandless and that she had changed her name from Monica Karlen in 2015. The deputy was able to see the word “boy” was cut into her left arm.
McCandless testified at trial she has “gender fluidity,” and that at times in her life she has identified as male, but now she is identifying as female.
According to the criminal complaint, on the day McCandless showed up at the residence in the Town of Spring Brook, the Dunn County deputy contacted the Eau Claire Police Department for assistance in locating Mengel. An officer from the Eau Claire Police Department said they’d had contact earlier that day at approximately 12:30 p.m. with McCandless, Mengel and Alexander Woodworth, according to the criminal complaint.
When the deputy called Mengel, the man said the last time he had seen McCandless was when she was with Woodworth at Woodworth’s residence in Eau Claire. The Eau Claire officer attempted to contact Woodworth at his residence but was unable to do so. The deputy and the Eau Claire officer went back to Mayo-Eau Claire to speak with McCandless, who said she and Woodworth had gone to Owen Park in Eau Claire, where Woodworth allegedly attacked McCandless. The altercation started because Woodworth had called her a boy and had cut her arm with the word “boy.” After Woodworth’s body was discovered, McCandless admitted she had carved the word “boy” into her arm after she had stabbed Woodworth, the complaint states.
Woodworth was found in McCandless’s car in a field driveway off 430th Avenue two-tenths of a mile east of county Highway E in the Town of Spring Brook.
PTSD
During the trial, Nelson, McCandless’s attorney, called expert witnesses who testified that McCandless was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from a variety of factors and that it was normal, from the stress of being attacked, not to remember what happened at first but for some memories to return over time.
During his closing argument, Assistant Attorney General Dufour said McCandless was lying and that her story kept changing to fit the physical evidence found at the crime scene.
McCandless testified Woodworth attacked her in the back seat of her car and that he had sexually assaulted, or had attempted to sexually assault her, and had cut her clothes and attacked her with a knife. McCandless said she and Woodworth were face-to-face, only inches away, when she took the knife away from him and started stabbing him.
Dufour noted that McCandless is right-handed, and the first stab wound was to the right side of Woodworth’s head. In order for McCandless to stab Woodworth on the right side of his head, when they were face-to-face, with enough force to pierce his skull and his brain, she would have had to reach over the top of his head, Dufour said.
Instead, Dufour said, McCandless attacked Woodworth outside of the car and came up behind him when she stabbed him in the head.
The knife was an EMT’s knife — the kind used to cut seat belts and to break car windows if necessary.
McCandless’s stepfather, also a witness for the prosecution, said he had a tree-cutting business and used the EMT knives to cut ropes. He testified he had given McCandless knives to keep in her car in case of an emergency.
Walking around
Dufour said that while Woodworth’s blood was found inside of the car, more blood was outside of the car.
McCandless said Woodworth had got of the car and was walking around and talking to her after she stabbed him and that at one point he had taken his coat off and laid it on the ground and laid down on his coat.
The car had become stuck in the mud after it was driven back to the field. McCandless said she had been looking in the back seat for something to get the car unstuck and that’s when Woodworth had attacked her.
According to the criminal complaint, at about 3 p.m. March 23, four Eau Claire detectives set out for the Town of Spring Brook, and as they were traveling on 430th Avenue, they saw a muddy road running to the south about a 40-acre parcel east of the residence where McCandless had arrived on foot. As the other detectives were speaking with the homeowner, two detectives took a closer look and saw footprints on the muddy road that appeared to be barefoot or stocking footed because the footprints did not contain any shoe pattern. The detectives saw only one set of footprints, and they also observed tire tracks in the mud were not consistent with a farm truck or a farm implement.
Because McCandless had been found covered in mud and had arrived at the residence on foot, the detectives walked up the side of the muddy road and saw a vehicle matching the description of McCandless’s vehicle. As they moved closer, they saw the driver’s side rear door was standing open, and clothing items were lying on the ground.
As the detectives approached the vehicle, they could see the head and upper torso of an individual lying partially out of the driver’s side rear door, and it was apparent the person was deceased, according to the complaint.
In his closing argument, Dufour said Woodworth’s coat was found folded up on top of his shoes on the floor of the car by the back seat. He said McCandless had said Woodworth attacked her in a park in Eau Claire because she planned to go back out to the Town of Spring Brook later on and “clean up” the murder scene.
McCandless used some of the three hours between the time she and Woodworth left Eau Claire until she showed up at the Town of Spring Brook residence to arrange the murder scene, Dufour said.
McCandless took Woodworth’s cell phone with her when she left, and the knife and phone were found later in the ditch.
During his closing argument, Nelson repeatedly said Dufour’s theory “did not make sense” and reiterated McCandless had stabbed Woodworth in self-defense and that inconsistencies in the details she remembered was because of suffering PTSD and being in a dissociative state.
Dissociation is defined as disconnecting from thoughts, feelings and memories.
Hearing
After the jury presented their guilty verdict November 1, Judge Peterson revoked the bail that had been set at $250,000 cash for McCandless during a court hearing March 28, 2018.
McCandless has remained in custody since March of 2018.
Judge Peterson set an all-day sentencing hearing for February 7, 2020, beginning at 9 a.m.
Dufour suggested an all-day sentencing hearing because he said he believed many of Woodworth’s family members wanted to make statements to the court.
Judge Peterson also ordered a pre-sentence investigation, and Vishny requested an order be entered that McCandless’s defense attorney be present during the PSI.
Judge Peterson granted Vishny’s request and said the defense counsel “shall be present” for the PSI interview.
In November of 2018, McCandless changed her plea to “not guilty” and “not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.”
In February of this year, McCandless withdrew her plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.
McCandless’s trial was originally scheduled in March of this year but was moved to November.