"Alex's lawyer looked down on us because of where we work," she says. "He tried to make it sound like Mary was nuts and I was out to get this guy. But I was pretty `fuck-you' to him. I know the symptoms. Handprints around your neck is not being kicked by a horse, and it made me wonder: If a cop does this to someone he supposedly loves, how does he treat common people?"
Police who might have shed some light on this subject were silent. Those who'd been at the December 14 party remembered nothing. "That part wasn't so surprising," says Rappaport. "A lot of people had already left, the TV was on, music was on, they may not have heard anything."
Nevertheless, Rappaport began her closing arguments by displaying a large piece of poster board on which were written the words "Conspiracy of Silence." "I wouldn't want to use the word `coverup,'" she says. "More, it was a minimization of what people saw. That bothers me, yes. And there is no doubt in my mind that Alex knew about the internal investigation even before Mary did."
And then there was the fact that the tape of the 911 call made to Woods's house on December 14, during which the operator on duty talked to Woods about whether to send a car out, was found to be unintelligible. "You could not make out either voice," Rappaport says, "even though the tapes of the calls immediately before and after were perfectly clear. It was a sort of gurgling noise. We have never been able to determine what happened."
But Taylor had her tapes, too, and those, Rappaport says, "were very important to winning this case. He basically said he hit her. And his voice--he's a man out of control."
A jury convicted Alex Woods Jr. of misdemeanor third-degree assault on May 12. In the weeks preceding his sentencing, an occasional chat with Woods's parole officer was all the contact Rappaport had with the case. "As far as his prognosis for counseling goes, the linchpin is the commitment to changing," she says. "If Alex wants to change, he will."
"This is a misdemeanor," says Woods's stepmother, Ann Montoya Woods. "You'd think it was a homicide, the way people are blowing it out of proportion. He needs to learn from this. And he has."
Taylor decided against appearing at the June 29 sentencing but sent a statement to the judge. "My main concern is that he receive counseling, including support from his family, friends and peers," she wrote. "I would hate for his abusive behavior to ever allow him to hurt anyone again."
And Judge Burd did order Woods to undergo 36 weeks of domestic-violence counseling, saying it was imperative that he do so.
"I would go into it with a positive outlook," Woods agreed in accepting the sentence, "and take what I can out of it. Professionally, I can use it. And also in my future relationships."
Whether he'll be able to use it as a Denver police officer has yet to be determined. DPD media-relations officer Tracy Harrison said the department started its own investigation into Woods after sentencing.
"That's procedure," she says. "Meanwhile, he's a cop.
