Man charged with burning Columbia police car after 2020 protest must get mental exam

A defendant accused of burning a Columbia police car during the May 2020 protests after the murder of George Floyd has been ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.

The order for Marcello Woods, 29, of Columbia, was issued Monday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Paige Gossett after she heard evidence from a federal prosecutor at a 20-minute hearing at the Matthew Perry federal courthouse.

After federal prosecutor Elliott Daniels said in court that Woods, while out on bond, had missed three appointments to give urine samples for drug tests, Gossett said she would order the mental health exam to determine Wood’s ability to understand and follow directions.

Woods was arrested last September and charged with arson in the torching of a Columbia police car near police headquarters on May 31, 2020, during protests about police brutality that turned violent. The protest that day was one of many across the country following the death of Floyd, a Black Minnesota man, who died while in the custody of now-former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin.

In June, Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison for Floyd’s murder.

Last September, Woods was one of six South Carolinians arrested by federal authorities on charges related to the protests, from arson to inciting a riot. Dozens of others were arrested on state charges.

Woods, who has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial, was released on bond shortly after his arrest last year.

Three weeks ago, he was taken into custody again for missing three appointments with his supervision officer to take a drug test.

Woods did show up for three other drug test appointments where he gave urine samples. But the results of those three tests indicated the samples may have been diluted and were therefore questionable, Daniels told the magistrate judge.

Gossett also ordered Woods to undergo counseling for marijuana drug use.

In any case, if Woods missed more appointments for drug testing, he would land back in jail, Gossett told him.

“Do you understand that?” Gossett asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Woods, who has no prior criminal record.

Woods’ attorney, federal public defender Kathy Evatt, told Gossett that Woods had just begun a job as a food preparer with a local restaurant and his mother, Mary Woods, will make sure her son gets to his drug testing and therapy appointments.

Prosecutor Daniels, who told Gossett the evidence against Woods is strong and includes video, told the judge that the results of the mental health evaluation would show if Woods was able to assist in his own defense, should there be a trial.

On the arson charge alone, Woods faces a five-year mandatory minimum sentence, if found guilty.

This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 1:29 PM.