‘Hate, Greed’ Cited as Motive in Alleged Slaying of Parents

“Hate and greed” propelled two brothers to plot the 1985 murder of their parents as they returned to their Brentwood home from a post-Yom Kippur meal, a prosecutor told a Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday.

As Stewart Woodman’s murder and conspiracy trial began, Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrick R. Dixon said the defendant and his brother, Neil, hired professional assassins to “kill their mother for insurance money and their father just out of pure hatred.”

Stewart Woodman was the “linchpin in this plot,” Dixon contended.

Slain in Garage

Gerald Woodman, 67, and his wife, Vera, 63, died by gunfire in the underground parking garage of their condominium building. Less than four months later, the younger Woodmans collected $506,000 from an insurance policy in their mother’s name.

Stewart Woodman, 39, used part of his share to buy a Mercedes-Benz, Dixon said.

On trial with Stewart Woodman is Anthony Majoy, 51, one of three alleged hit men charged in the case. Dixon said Majoy served as a lookout in the garage while Steven Homick fired on the couple with a pistol, striking Gerald once in the head and Vera three times.

Three other defendants--Neil Woodman, 45, Steven Homick, 49, and his brother, Robert Homick, 38--will be tried separately. All have been in jail without bail since their arrest in 1986.

Witness for Prosecution

A sixth defendant, Michael Dominguez, 29, pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and will testify for the prosecution, which is expected to call more than 100 witnesses.

The case became known as the “Ninja murders” because one of the witnesses spotted an assailant in a black-hooded sweat shirt and apparently thought he was dressed like a Japanese warrior.

In outlining the prosecution’s case, Dixon said the evidence will show that Steven Homick stalked the elder Woodmans for more than a year.

Stewart Woodman’s role was to “set this execution in motion” by finding out whether his parents, from whom he had been estranged for several years, would attend a family gathering to mark the end of the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Dixon said.

Business Problems

Relations between Gerald Woodman and his sons began to deteriorate when the youngest Woodman son began working in the family plastics business. Neil and Stewart were able to oust their father from the business, but then suffered financial difficulties as a result of gambling debts and two lawsuits filed against them by family members.

“The financial pressure was building, but they didn’t change their life style at all,” Dixon maintained.

Strategy Disputed

Defense opening statements were delayed until today after prosecutors objected to the strategy described by Stewart Woodman’s attorney, Jay Jaffe.

Jaffe told Judge Candace Cooper outside the jury’s presence that he planned to show that the Woodman murders were part of a series of crimes carried out by Dominguez and Steven Homick in 1985, and that the two men acted on their own, without instructions from Stewart Woodman.

He cited two attempted murders and one actual murder as evidence of his theory that Steven Homick was a “modern-day Robin Hood” who would help anyone with a problem, whether he was asked to or not.

Cooper said she would rule today on whether it was proper to introduce such evidence.

The trial is expected to last more than four months.