KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The long and tortured prosecution of Anthony T. Woods came to an end Tuesday with a guilty plea that netted him far less than the 30 years in prison he once faced.
By agreement with special prosecutors from the 8th Judicial District Attorney General's office, Woods, 51, pleaded guilty to statutory rape and aggravated assault.
He'll spend eight years on supervised probation. Knox County Criminal Court Judge Scott Green approved the deal Tuesday.
Woods once found himself serving 30 years in the case.
The criminal case dates to 2016. He was accused of multiple counts of sex crimes against an underage female.
In September 2019, the trial ended in a hung jury, a development that judges, defense attorneys and prosecutors generally dread.
The prosecution tried again in 2021. This time, a Knox County jury convicted him of 15 counts of statutory rape by an authority figure, aggravated statutory rape, attempted rape and sexual exploitation of a minor.
At sentencing in June 2021, the young victim took the stand to present a victim impact statement. Two other women also testified that Woods had inappropriately touched or propositioned them when they were in his home.
Woods went to prison. He was only there a matter of months.
The defense learned a juror had failed during the trial to disclose all she knew about Woods and his family. The defense ended up seeking a subpoena against her, and she testified June 2, 2022, in a court hearing.
She said during juror questioning before selection in 2021 that she knew of Woods' name and of one of his sons, according to court records.
Woods' lawyer, however, said further investigation last year showed she actually knew more about him, two sons and even something about a prior case against Woods than she'd first acknowledged.
Defense attorney Joseph F. Della-Rodolfa told Green in a motion he suspected the juror knew even more than she was letting on.
"The defendant would aver that the court will never know the depth of (the juror's) knowledge of Mr. Woods' prior case as she will continue to be evasive, only giving information when done so accidentally ... or if she fears she is already 'caught,' and gives up just enough information as to seem remaining truthful," he wrote.
In August 2022, Green decided he had to grant Woods' motion for a new trial based on the allegation of juror misconduct.
