A Hammond man’s trial for the murder of his ex-wife on a public street was rescheduled Friday after a relative of the victim tried to charge the defendant.
Allen Oscar Woods, 41, is charged in the Dec. 27, 2024 murder of Tiffany (Weston) Woods.
A status hearing is April 22 for a new trial date.
Emotions ran high Friday. In court, Tiffany’s brother, Kevin Weston, and the rest of her family were asked to leave after Weston tried to charge the defendant.
Deputy Prosecutor Arturo Balcazar tackled Weston to avoid a confrontation. Weston later appeared to apologize to Balcazar outside the courthouse.
The family said they saw Woods appear to fist bump a bailiff as the hearing started, which they believed was preferential treatment. The incident could not be independently verified. Then, Woods appeared to try to speak with his daughter who was in attendance.
Weston’s mother, Mary Renkins, was upset that Woods was trying to speak with the daughter, and Weston later said he was trying to look out for his mother.
“This is the man who murdered my sister,” Kevin said afterwards.
Renkins said she was upset at the “whole process” — that the justice system failed to protect her daughter. In the past, Woods had threatened her daughter from jail, she said.
He “should have never been (let) out of jail,” she said. The restraining orders were “a piece of paper” that doesn’t work.
“We shouldn’t be going through this,” she said.
Renkins said prosecutors went forward with cases against him when her daughter no longer wanted to pursue them. Court records show a trail of threats preceded Tiffany Woods’ death.
Allen Woods got probation in December 2023 in a pair of stalking cases following their 2021 divorce, which he initiated, filings show.
In the first stalking case, Allen told her in February 2022 that he would hop a flight from Texas to “shoot up” her Hammond home and “kill everyone inside,” an affidavit states.
Tiffany was a “loving person” that “always kept a smile on her face,” her family wrote after her death. She is survived by two daughters.
More Top Picks Best Commuter E Bikes For Women