Man sentenced to death in murder of 72-year-old Phoenix church janitor

A Maricopa County Superior Court jury handed down a death sentence on Tuesday to the man convicted of killing a 72-year-old church janitor during a robbery in Phoenix.

Gustin Woodman was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Mark Woodruff in October 2023.

Woodman and two others spotted Woodruff at a Phoenix gas station in June 2014. They planned to rob him and the three tailed him home in their car, according to court records.

Woodman got out of the car to confront Woodruff in his driveway before shooting him, according to testimony from Shayla Brattin, one of the accomplices.

Brattin admitted to being one of the other people in the car and pled guilty to second-degree murder in April 2018.

The third person in the car, Dana Leilani Duncan, pled guilty to second-degree murder in July 2021.

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office filed a notice to seek the death penalty in this case in April 2020.

Woodman’s trial started in July 2023 and ran for four months before a jury found Woodman guilty.

It took another four months for a jury to sentence Woodman to death.

Woodman joins 111 others on death row facing state execution.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Gustin Woodman sentenced to death in murder of Phoenix church janitor