In 1999, when her grandson’s killer was convicted, Rebecca Woods had something she doesn’t have today — closure.
Derrick Lynn Guyton of Columbus is one of the 209 convicted felons former Gov. Haley Barbour either pardoned or put on suspended sentence on his last day in office.
Rebecca Woods still lives in Lowndes County. At the time of Kenny Woods’ murder, she lived near Guyton.
She doesn’t understand why he should be absolved of the crime.
“When folks kill somebody like that, I don’t think they ought to be let out,” Rebecca Woods said in a telephone interview Friday.
Guyton is in the hospital at an undisclosed location, said Suzanne Singletary, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
Barbour suspended Guyton’s life sentence for medical reasons, which means the state is not responsible for the cost of his hospital stay. It also means Guyton is no longer in the custody of the state, though it is unknown why he is hospitalized. Because of privacy laws, Singletary could not disclose the nature of his treatment or the name or location of the hospital.
Court records show Guyton was indicted for capital murder, which carries a sentence of life in prison or death, in the murder for hire of Kenny Woods.
Guyton entered a guilty plea to the lesser charge of murder and was sentenced Feb. 11, 1999, to life in prison on the murder plea and five years for simple assault of a police officer.
The assault charge arose from a July 12, 1996, incident in which Guyton was charged with attempted escape from the Lowndes County jail, court records show. Officers Jason Burns and Chuck Thomas were injured when Guyton hit them and knocked them to the ground.
The murder charge and subsequent conviction were not Guyton’s first brush with the law, and it was his second time being tried in a murder-for-hire case.
He had a 1987 conviction in Lowndes County for rape, Singletary said.
Guyton was acquitted on an indictment of attempt to commit capital murder on July 10, 1995. The state charged Guyton with contracting with a third party for murder. Court documents posited Guyton paid a third party $3,000 and bought the firearms for the deed, but police interrupted the plan before it was carried out.
District Attorney Forrest Allgood prosecuted Guyton for Kenny Woods’ death.
Even if Guyton is not dangerous himself because of health reasons, he could still pose a threat, Allgood said.
“I don’t know if this guy’s at death’s door or not, but he’s dangerous,” Allgood said Friday. “He is the type of person that would hire someone to kill you.”
Allgood considered contacting the victims in the case but backed away when state Attorney General Jim Hood successfully petitioned the court to hold 21 of the most violent pardoned convicts while his office investigates the pardons. The attorney general’s office is looking into whether Barbour violated the state constitution by granting the pardons without 30-day published notices of their petitions for a pardon.
“The whole thing is outrageous,” said Allgood, who is serving his 22nd year as district attorney.
Victims who have concerns about the pardons should contact their local district attorney’s office or Hood’s. The state attorney general’s Victim Services Division can be reached at 601-359-6766 or toll free at 1-800-829-6766.
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