Julian Demond Woods had been accused in a 2022 Prichard double homicide.
MOBILE, AL — A judge dismissed capital murder charges against Julian Demond Woods after key witnesses did not appear for his scheduled trial this week in Mobile County, ending a case tied to a 2022 double killing in Prichard.
The dismissal means Woods, who had been awaiting trial on the most serious murder charge under Alabama law, is no longer being held on those charges. The case centered on the deaths of Micheal Trotter and Henisha Scott, who were shot in broad daylight in Prichard on June 1, 2022. The immediate question now is whether prosecutors have any path to revive the case or pursue other action.
Woods was expected to go before a jury this week, but the trial did not move forward after witnesses needed for the prosecution failed to appear. WALA reported that Woods was “supposed to go on trial this week for capital murder. Instead, he is a free man.” The dismissal came four years after Prichard police announced Woods’ arrest and said investigators had charged him in connection with the deaths of two people found shot in a vehicle.
Police said at the time that Trotter and Scott were inside a white Kia when someone opened fire near a store on Main Street in Prichard. The car was left with dozens of bullet holes, according to the early police account. Investigators also said two people were in a gold Camry that fled the scene after the shooting. At the time of Woods’ arrest, Prichard investigators said more arrests were pending, but the public record in the reports reviewed did not show a full final account of who else, if anyone, was charged.
The case was notable because of both the setting and the charge. Police described the shooting as a daytime attack in front of a store on Main Street, a busy area in Prichard. Woods was 26 when he was arrested on June 6, 2022. Early reports said he was charged with two counts of murder. Later reports described the case as a capital murder prosecution, meaning prosecutors alleged facts that made the killings eligible for Alabama’s highest homicide charge. The precise legal basis for the capital charge was not detailed in the immediate dismissal reports.
Witness problems can stop a criminal trial when the state cannot put on testimony needed to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt. In Woods’ case, the judge’s action ended the pending capital murder case before a jury heard the evidence. The available reports did not identify the missing witnesses, explain why they did not appear or say whether they had been subpoenaed. It also was not immediately clear whether prosecutors sought a delay before the dismissal or whether the judge dismissed the charges with limits on refiling.
The dismissal closes one courtroom chapter in a case that began with a violent scene in Prichard and left two families without a trial verdict. Trotter and Scott were identified by police as the victims shortly after the shooting. Woods’ arrest came five days later. The case then moved through the courts for years before reaching the trial week that ended with no testimony from key witnesses and no conviction.
As of Saturday, Woods was free from the dismissed capital murder charges. The next public milestone would be any filing by prosecutors, any statement from the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office or any new court order clarifying whether the case can return to court.
Author note: Last updated June 13, 2026.