Following a trial this week, a jury found 25-year-old Mytrez Woolen guilty of capital murder in the January 2021 shooting death of Pastor Mark McWilliams. The verdict resulted in an automatic life sentence, with no possibility of parole.
State prosecutors had said they didn’t seek the death penalty because Woolen has a “verified mental illness.” In December 2021, the defendant was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial and was treated at a hospital.
In her victim-impact statement, Rosemary McWilliams, the pastor’s widow, urged Woolen to use his time in prison to seek God. “I ask the Lord to bless you,” she added.
Pastor Encountered Intruder at Church
On the first Sunday morning of 2021, Pastor McWilliams, 62, arrived at Starrville Methodist Church in Winona, Texas, and found Woolen inside. The previous night, Woolen had led police on a high-speed chase in a stolen car, but the search for him had been called off.
According to prosecutors, the pastor encountered Woolen in a bathroom, holding the church’s money bag. McWilliams told Woolen to leave and then pulled out his own gun. During a scuffle on the ground, authorities said, Woolen shot the pastor in the chest, fatally wounding him.
Woolen also shot church deacon Mike Sellars, who survived his injuries. Woolen shot at but missed Rosemary McWilliams, who was injured in a fall.
When he took the stand, Woolen claimed self-defense. He said he was sleeping in the church and tried to leave when asked. Woolen said he grabbed the pastor’s weapon, “trying to separate him from the gun.” The gun discharged during the scuffle, the defendant added. “[McWilliams] was trying to choke me, and I shot him again.” As for why he fled afterward, Woolen responded, “I knew I had done something wrong.”
To charge Woolen with capital murder, prosecutors had to link another felony—in this case, aggravated burglary. Defense attorney Jeff Haas contested that, saying the killing wasn’t done “in order to maintain the control of that moneybag.”
Haas also noted that Woolen had several mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, and should have been on medication. “His actions were justified in his mind,” the attorney said of his client.
Survivor: ‘The Lord Wasn’t Through With Me Yet’
During the three-day trial, deacon Sellars testified that he arrived at the church that morning to sounds of screaming. Pastor McWilliams, who was holding a man at gunpoint, told Sellars to call 911. A gunshot could be heard on that call.
Sellars, who was shot six times, said, “As I was running away, I could feel the bullets hit me.” The deacon added, “It’s a miracle that I’m here today. As it says in Psalm 118:17, ‘I will not die, but live, and I will tell of the works of the Lord.’”
