GUILTY FL - Gary Hembree, 39, & Roger Picior, 44, murdered, Titusville, 3 Sept 2012

The state wants a future jury to know about a scuffle that took place only days before a fatal shooting...

At issue is whether a jury should get to hear about the Aug. 29 fisticuffs outside the Titusville courthouse. The families were there seeking injunctions against each other. Judge Dean Moxley, who has since retired, dismissed the case without listening to Woodward, which angered him...

Moments later, outside the courthouse, Woodward and Hembree exchanged words and Woodward struck him, prompting his arrest.

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Upholding a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that Florida's death penalty law is unconstitutional, Brevard County Circuit Judge James Earp ruled Tuesday that next week's William Woodward murder trial will not be a death penalty case.

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There is no doubt that William Woodward shot three of his neighbors, killing two, on Labor Day weekend 2012.

That is undisputed.

That's why jurors in Woodward's death penalty murder trial starting this week absolutely need to listen to audio from that night and the weeks leading to it. This crucial evidence is at the heart of Woodward's defense and the state has been fighting it from day one.

Jury selection began this morning and is expected to take at least three days before the three-week trial will commence with opening statements. Challenges in selecting a jury will be the time commitment for potential jurors as well as the fact that it's a death penalty case and years of pre-trial publicity.

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"(Woodward) describes the people he shoots as his prey, and that he's at war with them," Assistant State Attorney Bill Respess said Wednesday during his opening arguments at the Brevard County Courthouse in Viera.

Also shot and wounded that night was Bruce "Tim" Blake. Woodward, 50, is on trial for attempted murder for shooting Blake 11 times. Blake testified Wednesday and said he was laying outside with gunshot wounds when emergency responders approached him.

"I told them who done it," said Blake, who was 49 years old at the time of the shooting. "It was Billy Woodard."

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The prosecution wrapped up its six days of testimony Wednesday morning. Krzysztof Podjadski, a pathologist with the state Medical Examiner's Office, and Titusville Police Detective Sara Macskassy were among the last witnesses. The prosecution played Macskassy's interview with Woodward hours after he was taken into custody following the shooting.

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Woodward's defense attorneys said they'll prove he was responding to a legitimate threat from his neighbors when he fired. Part of the evidence is several hours of surveillance video from Woodward's home that recorded some of the interactions between him and his neighbors in the weeks preceding the shooting.

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On Friday, his wife Barbara Woodward, tearfully recounted the abuse, which was captured in footage from Woodward's home security cameras.

"It started out as yelling insults at us from across the street and honking their car horns as they passed our house," she said, adding that it grew progressively worse and never stopped.

"I can still hear their voices," she continued. "They said they were going to burn down our house. I took the threats very seriously. I had no doubt they were capable of doing it."

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Attorneys are set to present closing arguments Tuesday morning in the death penalty trial of Titusville resident William Woodward.

Monday prosecutors, defense attorneys and the judge spent the day discussing and outlining jury instructions.

Once the arguments are concluded, the case will be turned over to the jury, which will decide whether Woodward is guilty of two charges: first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm and attempted first-degree murder in the deaths of Gary Hembree and Roger Picior and the wounding of Bruce "Tim" Blake in Titusville.

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A Titusville man was convicted on two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder Wednesday.

A 12-person jury spent about eight hours Wednesday deliberating the state's case against William Woodward, 50.

After the verdict was read, defense attorney Greg Eisenmenger requested a pre-sentencing investigation. Once that is complete, Circuit Judge Kelly McKibben will schedule a sentencing hearing.

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Circuit Court Judge Kelly McKibben is scheduled April 11 to sentence William Woodward for the murders of his neighbors, Gary Hembree and Roger Picior, and the wounding of Bruce "Tim" Blake, in a Titusville neighborhood shooting.

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After an afternoon of emotional impact statements from the families and loved ones of both William Woodward and the men he was convicted of killing, Woodward was sentenced to two life terms Wednesday.

Both terms will be served concurrently.

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