Wharton assailant could get up to 26 years at sentencing

The 17-year-old was convicted on August 16 of aggravated assault, robbery and related charges in connection with last November's attack of a then-sophomore in a basement bathroom of Steinberg-Dietrich, according to Assistant District Attorney Steve Collier, who prosecuted the case. Last week, an employee at the Criminal Justice Center reading from computer records said that Woodson, 16 when the crime was committed, had only been convicted of robbery and several lesser charges. Woodson -- who was tried as an adult because of the severity of the crimes -- was also charged with attempted murder, but a judge found him not guilty on that charge at his non-jury trial. An attempted rape charge against Woodson had been dismissed at a preliminary hearing because of a lack of evidence. Woodson's lawyer -- who did not call any witnesses to the stand during the trial -- could not be reached for comment yesterday. Collier said the judge in the case has a lot of leeway in imposing a sentence, which could range from probation to a 26 years in prison. Although he declined to speculate about the reasons for the judge's not guilty verdict on the attempted murder charge, Collier said the attack was "very serious" and that the distinction between attacking someone with a knife and attempted murder is "really pretty slight. [The student] could have easily been killed." The early morning assault occurred in a basement bathroom of Steinberg-Dietrich Hall, the main Wharton School building. The victim, a University sophomore, was leaving a stall when she was grabbed by an assailant who wrestled her to the ground with a 10-inch kitchen knife. The victim hit two panic alarms before escaping. During the struggle, the assailant dropped several envelopes on the floor which were later found at the scene by University Police Det. Frank DeMeo, who testified at the trial. The envelopes had six of Woodson's fingerprints on them and served as key evidence against him during the trial, which lasted only a few hours. They were also the basis for Woodson's arrest by University and Philadelphia police within days of the assault. Woodson has a criminal record, including charges of burglary and robbery. He was out on bail at the time of the Steinberg-Dietrich attack. With the fingerprints as evidence, "there wasn't any question about who had done it," Collier said. He added that without the fingerprints, it would have been much harder to win the case since the victim was unable to identify Woodson from a line-up. The prosecutor also used an admission given by Woodson to Philadelphia Police after his arrest to place him at the scene of the crime. According to Collier, the West Philadelphia resident admitted that he had run into a woman in a bathroom on Penn's campus that night. Woodson told police that the woman attacked him when he asked her for money, so he ran out of the bathroom. The sentencing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. today in Room 1108 of the Criminal Justice Center at 13th and Filbert streets.