As former felon Rodney Woods stands poised to accept a University football scholarship, it’s important that the family and friends of Christopher O’Leary, the 18-year-old who died after a beating in which Woods and two friends were initially implicated, understand that not all Oregon football fans feel good about the program’s participation in this young man’s attempt to absolve himself of moral and legal responsibility for events that took place May 19, 2000.
Woods pleaded no contest to felony assault for chasing down and beating a man who questioned why two of Woods’ football teammates were punching and kicking O’Leary, who had gone to the party to pick up his girlfriend for a date and was still in the front yard when the beating took place.
Some witnesses said Woods did not participate in O’Leary’s beating only because others were holding him back. Woods and his family, who are facing a wrongful death lawsuit filed by O’Leary’s parents, maintain he never touched the boy and played no role in his death.
I know from unfortunate first-hand experience following a high school graduation party that there are people who will stand by and watch or even cheer as someone is being kicked in the head — and then there are the rest of us.
By his own plea-bargain admission, Rodney Woods didn’t just fail to protect O’Leary from being savagely beaten to death, and he didn’t just stand idly by as it happened; he chased and beat the kid who dared to speak out against his friends’ deadly acts.
It’s also clear that every time Woods denies involvement in O’Leary’s beating — which he must do for legal and public relations reasons — he causes deep pain to the victim’s family.
That’s the last thing Rodney Woods would want to do if he sincerely felt remorse for his role in the O’Leary family’s lifetime of pain.
But if he wants to take the next step in his football career, that’s what he has to do. A California judge’s decision last week to reduce his felony to a misdemeanor opened the door.
Woods’ mother told the court this is her son’s only chance to get a college education. Given the availability of assistance and the experience of people without means who have found a way to pay for higher education, that statement lacks merit.
Make no mistake, Rodney Woods will be in Eugene — with what would have been two years left on his original felony probation agreement — to live his dream of playing big-time football.
And when you boil down all the justifications, arguments, emotion and fact-spinning, there is one nugget on which we can be certain: A criminal received special treatment and attention because he is also a talented athlete.
That’s the wrong message for a university to send.