The Murder of "Maximum John"


Updated May 29, 2020

On this day in 1979, Charles Harrelson (estranged father of actor Woody Harrelson) was arrested for the murder of Judge John Wood, aka "Maximum John." The judge was shot to death outside his San Antonio home, and evidence later revealed that Harrelson was hired to carry out the murder by drug kingpin Jimmy Chagra, whose case was about to come before Judge Wood.

Charles Harrelson, who had a prior conviction for a murder committed in 1968, was sentenced to two life sentences for Wood's murder. His wife Jo Ann was convicted of conspiracy and perjury and later paroled. Charles Harrelson passed away from a heart attack in Colorado's Supermax federal prison on March 15, 2007, at the age of 69.

On May 5, 2020, a new podcast, Son of a Hitman, debuted. It explores the murder of "Maximum John" at the hands of Charles Harrelson and the conspiracy theories surrounding the hitman. While Woody Harrelson did not participate in the production, his brothers, Brett and Jordan, provide their insight.

Related Reading:

Conspiracy theorists believe Woody Harrelson’s father, a convicted murderer, was the youngest of the “Three Tramps” and the assassin who killed John F. Kennedy

Woody Harrelson's Hitman Father

Woody Harrelson: my father, the contract killer










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