Ezra McCandless is a killer from Wisconsin who was convicted of the murder of Alex Woodworth
According to court documents Ezra McCandless would go to the home of Alex Woodworth where she would stab him multiple times causing his death. It is believed that Ezra had gone to the home of Alex Woodworth, who she had dated, in the hopes of convincing him to stay out of the way of her relationship with a different man. After the murder Ezra McCandless would show up at a random house claiming she was the victim of an assault
Ezra McCandless would be arrested two weeks later, convicted and sentenced to life in prison
Ezra McCandless Now
| Institution: Taycheedah Correctional Institution Name: MCCANDLESS, EZRA J Birth Year: 1997 Age: 26 Sex: FEMALE Race: WHITE Ethnicity: UNKNOWN Weight: 124 Height: 5′ 2″ Eye Color: BLUE Hair Color: BROWN Dexterity: RIGHT HANDED |
Ezra McCandless Videos
Ezra McCandless Case
Ezra McCandless was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole after 50 years back in 2020. That was for the stabbing death of her ex-boyfriend Alex Woodworth in 2018 in Dunn County.
Now, she is asking for a new trial. Lawyers for McCandless say the court never heard the full story.McCandless’ appeal alleges the 2020 trial was “compromised from beginning to end.” Her lawyers claim initial interviews where McCandless gave inconsistent and sometimes false statements to law enforcement were done illegally and should be excluded from a new trial.
They say she was interrogated while being held involuntarily in a psychiatric facility and was never read her Miranda Rights. The Eau Claire Police officer who conducted the interviews said that’s because she wasn’t being treated as a suspect yet. But the appeal claims he used coercive tactics designed to elicit a guilty response and plant memories when McCandless said she was suffering from memory loss — memory loss that the appeal claims is a result of severe PTSD.
A psychologist provided the defense with the diagnosis, citing multiple instances of sexual abuse that started when McCandless was a child and was continued just months before Woodworth’s death. Most of these incidents were kept from the jury to prevent an accusation of false reporting. But now, her lawyers say the jury lacks context for the PTSD diagnosis that is essential to understanding McCandless’ claim of self-defense.
That same psychologist said he believes it is possible her PTSD sent her into a dissociative state of consciousness in the moments leading up to Woodworth’s death
McCandless alleges he was on top of her, cutting her with a knife, and she had reason to believe Woodworth intended to kill her. That reasoning primarily comes from journal entries made by Woodworth that reference harming McCandless. Those entries were never shown to the jury.
The appeal claims her “trauma response that day was to get Woodworth off of her, which is why she started stabbing him.”
They also say the state gave improper testimony including personal attacks against McCandless. Not only that, but the appeal alleges the jury was not properly prepped before trial.
They claim had these errors not occurred, the outcome may have been different.
An attorney not affiliated with this case, but who often handles appeals says new trials occur when there is reason to believe the court did not hear all the facts relevant to the case, or when there is evidence that wasn’t included.
“It would wipe out everything that happened at the sentencing, it would put the defendant back in the position that he was before the trial happened,” said Cole Ruby, an attorney at Martinez and Ruby LLP.
The appeal also includes journal entries written by McCandless where she says the abuse she experienced as a child affected her adult life, saying she was “on a path of self-destruction.”
In 2020, the state said McCandless had the intention of killing Woodworth — that she lured him into the woods and stabbed him 16 times.
The prosecution claimed McCandless changed her story along the course of the investigation and trial. They say physical evidence compiled, such as blood spots, the position of the body and injuries to both McCandless and Woodworth do not match up with her testimony in the case.
Judge James Peterson said McCandless did not appear to show remorse during the trial.
A hearing on the appeal has been requested but not scheduled.
