INDIANAPOLIS -- A man imprisoned for more than 25 years for the death of an Indianapolis police officer is applying again for release, prompting two families to make very different pleas to the state parole board Tuesday.
Relatives of Norman Woodford (file image shown at left), who is serving a life sentence in connection with the 1974 death of Officer Ronald Manley, asked for Woodford's release.
Manley's family members, addressing the board at the same meeting, said Woodford needed to serve the term he was given.
Manley's sister Lorna Carter told the board she was glad her mother -- who died in 1998 -- never had to see Woodford leave prison.
"As I was standing at her deathbed, thoughts of Norman Woodford came through my head, that at least my mother didn't have to experience him being released during her lifetime," Carter said.
Authorities said Woodford and an escapee from Alabama's state prison robbed a drugstore on Dec. 12, 1974. Manley (pictured, below) arrived and was fatally shot.
Woodford, 21 at the time, pleaded guilty to murder in connection with Manley's death.
At Tuesday's parole hearing, Woodford's sister Alice Woodford asked the board for mercy.
"We don't want you to go against (Manley's family). But yet, he needs to be free," Alice Woodford said.
Norman Woodford made unsuccessful requests for early release in 1995 and 1998.
The parole board will consider the circumstances of Manley's death as well as Woodford's conduct behind bars.
The board is expected to make a decision within a week,
RTV6's Jack Rinehart reported.
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