Left: Lauren A. Wegner (Legacy obituary). Center: Shane Jason Woods fighting with a U.S. Capitol Police officer on Jan. 6, 2021 (FBI court filing). Right: Shane Jason Woods (Sangamon County (Ill.) Sheriff’s Office).
An Illinois man who was convicted of assaulting a press photographer and police at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 before receiving a pardon from President Donald Trump is now standing trial for allegedly killing a woman while driving the wrong way down a highway in a drunken suicide attempt.
Shane Jason Woods, 47, is facing murder charges for his alleged role in the 2022 death of Lauren Wegner on Interstate 55 in Springfield. According to a courtroom report from the Chicago Sun-Times, prosecutors made opening statements and called some 17 witnesses on the first day of the trial on Tuesday.
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It was Nov. 8, 2022, and Woods, who was then facing nearly a decade in prison for his crimes on Jan. 6, left a local bar where he had had a few drinks, according to witness testimony. A police officer reportedly testified that when he pulled a speeding Woods over, the defendant told him he wanted to “end it.”
“‘It takes a big f—ing man to say what I’m about to say’” the officer reportedly recalled Woods saying. “‘I’m gonna kill myself’”
A former cop whose relative was dating Woods at the time saw him and also stopped. He could be heard on dashcam footage telling another officer that Woods was “involved in that Capitol deal.”
But Woods fled from the traffic stop, and sped north down the southbound lanes of I-55. Wegner happened to be driving south on the highway and collided head-on with Woods’ pickup truck. A fiery ball erupted after impact, instantly killing Wegner and breaking nearly every bone in her body, prosecutors reportedly said. Investigators had to identify her through her nail polish.
“Lauren died because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Prosecutor Derek Dion reportedly said during his opening statement. “And she couldn’t get out of the way.”
According to a police report, Woods’ blood alcohol level was .177 after the crash — more than twice the legal limit in Illinois.
Jurors also heard from a woman who was in another car at the time of the crash and was hit in the eye by flying glass, calling it the worst pain ever, the Sun-Times reported.
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Prosecutors argue Woods knew there was a “strong probability” his actions could cause harm or death which is what led to the murder charge. But his defense attorneys noted that police originally arrested Woods for reckless homicide and not murder, per the Sun-Times.
Woods is reportedly supposed to testify in his own defense.
As Law&Crime previously reported, the Illinois State Police trooper who provided the probable cause report for Woods’ arrest said in the report that while standing in the door to Woods room at the hospital where he was taken after the crash, the trooper overheard a conversation between Woods and a visitor.
“Nurses requested the visitors exit but prior to them leaving and while I was standing in the doorway of the treatment room, I overheard Woods speaking with a visitor, a white, middle age female, with blonde hair,” the trooper’s statement said. “During the conversation, I heard Woods state that he had intended on crashing his vehicle into a truck tractor semi-trailer.”
The state trooper said that Woods refused to answer questions after having been read his Miranda rights, but noted that “neighbours [sic] advised [him] later that an open 12oz Bud Light can had been located with the property that had been in Woods’ vehicle at the crash scene.”
Court records showed that he faced six charges, including first degree murder, aggravated driving under the influence, and aggravated fleeing and eluding a peace officer.
The trooper identified what may have been Woods’ mindset before the fatal crash.
“It should be noted through the course of the investigation I learned that Woods was a defendant in the January 6th, 2021 US Capitol Riots and was anticipating a sentence which may have been motive for the intentional traffic crash,” the trooper wrote.
Indeed, Woods had pleaded guilty in September 2022 to felony charges for assaulting a law enforcement officer and a member of the media during the Jan. 6 attack, when Trump supporters, angry over President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win, overwhelmed police and breached the building. Congress was forced to halt its certification of the Electoral College vote while lawmakers and staff either fled or sheltered in place.
In his guilty plea, Woods admitted to body-blocking a Capitol Police officer who had been hit with a chemical irritant during the melee and was pursuing the person who had sprayed her.
“As she did, Woods lowered his shoulder and rammed into her, knocking her off her feet and sending her crashing into a downed bicycle barricade,” the Justice Department had said in a press release announcing Woods’ guilty plea. “The officer felt immediate pain and the next day, she felt as if she had been ‘hit by a truck.’”
That first assault happened at around 2:10 p.m. that day. Hours later, Woods, by his own admission, went on the attack again after joining a group of rioters who were destroying media equipment.
“[H]e tossed some of it himself,” the DOJ press release said. “At the same time, a member of the news media attempted to walk away to protect himself and his camera. Woods took a running start and hit the man with a blindside shoulder tackle, knocking him to the ground and causing him to drop the camera.”
A judge sentenced Woods to 54 months — 4-and-a-half-years — in prison in October 2023.
That conviction was overturned when Trump issued a pardon to all Jan. 6 defendants shortly after being sworn into office in January.
If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 to reach the national Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.
