SAN ANTONIO — Forty years ago, the wife of John Wood Jr. stood outside the Chateaux Dijon townhomes off Broadway, filled with anguish. Emergency responders were working frantically to save the life of her husband, Judge John Wood, after gunfire rang out.
The shooting would end up being one that rocked the nation, with an epicenter in San Antonio—the first assassination of a federal judge in the country's history, with the trigger pulled by the father of a Hollywood star.
The incident sparked a multimillion-dollar investigation and mass media coverage. Among the clippings covering the event were Wood's last words, according to his widow: "It's almost 8:30 a.m., and I've got to get to court."
The 63-year-old's murder outside his home ignited a fury to track down the killer.
"I perceived Judge Wood as the epitome of a southern gentleman," said Archie Carl Pierce, a young prosecutor at the time of the shooting. "He was objective and he was not subject...to that many times corrupt influence there was in El Paso."
Wood's harsh sentences on drug criminals earned him a reputation. Among his nicknames: "Maximum John" and "Hanging High John."
A rigorous and lengthy investigation into the murder brought Jimmy Chagra front and center. He was a kingpin of marijuana-smuggling in the 1970s, notorious for his lavish lifestyle and lucrative gambling habits.
"They would let me be in the casino; at times there would be crowds around my father and they are all saying, 'Shaggy shag, shaggy shag,' and he would gamble up to a million dollars," said Catherine Chagra, Jimmy's daughter.
Pierce said Chagra was tied to 30,000 pounds' worth of marijuana in a particular shipment.
"And there was more than one," the lawyer said.
Prosecutors accused Chagra of paying Charles Harrelson – father of actor Woody Harrelson – $250,000 to kill Wood to avoid going to trial for drug charges he was facing. Chagra was eventually acquitted of the murder, but was convicted on drug charges.
Charles Harrelson was found guilty of Wood's murder.
While Wood's loved ones grieved, innocent members of Chagra's family also paid a price.
"She was left penniless after everything," Catherine Chagra said of her mother. "No one would give her anything and she saved up her last penny to take us on the train to see our father in prison."
Her father was released from jail and died in 2008.
In her book, Catherine described how the case tainted her family.
"Whether (or not) my father was involved in the murder of federal Judge John Wood, he paid the price for it," she said. "And so did all of his family."
Wood left behind a wife, two daughters and grandchildren. And his sudden death left a void in the San Antonio courthouse.