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‘I shot him in the head point-blank’: Democratic council president reveals jaw-dropping dark secret
Blaze News ^ | July 20, 2025 | Candace Hathaway

Posted on 07/20/2025 4:17:35 PM PDT by george76

Politician says his family member’s mafia ties allowed him to walk free. APennsylvania Democrat made a chilling confession during a Wednesday city council meeting that may invite a criminal investigation.

The Erie City Council held its bi-monthly meeting earlier this week, during which council members addressed the recent death of Marchello Woodard, a man who was fatally shot.

'You know, Nick, I could blow your head off.'

During the meeting, council President Mel Witherspoon (D) explained why he had not attended the man's funeral or the rally held in his honor, claiming that the events "brought some things back to me that I thought was gone."

Witherspoon stated that when he was 17 years old, he lost a friend who was "shot with a double-barrel shotgun at close range."

He noted his involvement at the time with "the largest gang in Newark, New Jersey."

"I organize. We go over [to] Jersey City looking for the person," Witherspoon said, likely referring to the suspect. "Well, when we got there, we didn't realize it was a family. And when you talk Jersey City, and you talk family, you're talking the mafia."

...

He explained that at the time of his high school graduation, he "had" to move, leaving the city and his parents, presumably because he was unable to cope with the death of his friend.

Witherspoon said that he went to Nebraska, where he continued going to school. He also noted that he purchased a gun once he arrived in the state.

"I played football and basketball. And the tackle, good guy, nice guy. And the guys came to my room, and we got high," he continued. "They left. I had the clip in my gun."

"Nick came in my room. I said, 'You know, Nick, I could blow your head off.' He said, 'Go ahead.' And I did," Witherspoon admitted.

“I shot him in the head point-blank," he declared.

Witherspoon did not provide Nick's full name or clarify his relationship to the individual.

...

Witherspoon claimed that he spent only one night in jail and never went to court due to his familial connections.

"I went back to basketball. How did that happen? Because I had a family member, one of my uncles, he was involved with one of the [mafia] families. That family made a call from Newark, to New York, to Omaha ... where I was at, and I was out the next day," he said. "So that's having the right contact at the right time."

Witherspoon stated that it "all came back" to him when he heard about the death of Woodard.

Gannon University in Erie lists Witherspoon as one of its basketball hall of famers, noting that he played on the team for two years after transferring from Nebraska's Scottsbluff Junior College.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Nebraska; US: New Jersey; US: New York; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: arrestmelwitherspoon; candacehathaway; crime; democrat; eriecitycouncil; homicide; homicie; jerseycity; mafia; marchellowoodard; melwitherspoon; murder; nebraska; newark; newjersey; newyork; nostatutelimits; omaha; pennsylvania; scottsbluffjrcollege
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1 posted on 07/20/2025 4:17:35 PM PDT by george76
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To: george76

This will make him a rock star in the Democrat Party.


2 posted on 07/20/2025 4:21:18 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: george76

Well there you go. Another violent Democrat. No corpus delicti = no prosecution


3 posted on 07/20/2025 4:23:13 PM PDT by j.havenfarm (24 years on Free Republic, 12/10/24! More than 10,500 replies and still not shutting up!)
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To: george76

Bad people in a bad collective...bad things happen. RIP Nick.


4 posted on 07/20/2025 4:24:03 PM PDT by PGalt (Past Peak Civilization?)
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To: PGalt

It looks like the victim didn’t die. The bullet went through his face, behind his nasal passage, and was lodged behind his cheekbone. It didn’t hit his brain. He was lucky (I guess.)


5 posted on 07/20/2025 4:41:30 PM PDT by A_perfect_lady (The greatest wealth is to live content with little. -Plato)
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To: george76

Nancy piglousy has Mafia heritage also

Baltimore mob family.


6 posted on 07/20/2025 5:08:03 PM PDT by cuz1961 ( )
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To: A_perfect_lady

WOW! Thanks.


7 posted on 07/20/2025 5:22:32 PM PDT by PGalt (Past Peak Civilization?)
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To: george76

Wonder how ‘the maf’ feels about him telling his little story?


8 posted on 07/20/2025 5:27:43 PM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: george76

The statute of limitations never ends for murder. Apparently the dope doesn’t know that.


9 posted on 07/20/2025 5:27:46 PM PDT by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise (Learn three chords and you, too, can be a Rock Star!)
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To: A_perfect_lady

Here we go again...guessing what a post/reply means. What victim didn’t die? The one in the college years? Where did you get that info? Certainly not from the article....Another FReeper wrote last week that articles and posts should not be puzzles for the reader to figure out and he/she was absolutely correct.


10 posted on 07/20/2025 5:28:29 PM PDT by Thank You Rush
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To: PGalt

You KNOW what that post meant? Tell us, please! What victim is the post talking about? And where did that information come from?


11 posted on 07/20/2025 5:29:56 PM PDT by Thank You Rush
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To: george76

Why does everyone think this Democrat Politician is telling the truth.

Sorry, the story s overly embellished.


12 posted on 07/20/2025 5:31:49 PM PDT by OHPatriot (Si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: george76

Ay Tone. This mook pops a guy in da amelon, den talks about it in a city council meetin.


13 posted on 07/20/2025 5:54:06 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: tumblindice

😆


14 posted on 07/20/2025 6:35:10 PM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: cuz1961

And the Clintons are another crime family, along with the Bidens.


15 posted on 07/20/2025 7:04:04 PM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: lightman

Ping.


16 posted on 07/20/2025 7:27:52 PM PDT by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
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To: george76; All
Shocking... Checking further...

Thankfully, Nick survived and lived a good life to age 76. But, his obituary notes: "His football career was cut short by a campus accident." Obituary

Here's the news article with that link and more information: Mel Witherspoon: 'I Shot Him' NJ Mafia Got Me Off
In that article, a councilmember says Witherspoon has told the story before to young people when talking about "second chances."

Here's a link to the 1962 newspaper story: College Youth Suffers Shot Wound in Dormitory Hotel

Here's the news article with that last link and more information: Newspaper from 1962 recounts shooting involving Erie City Council president

If Witherspoon's version of the story is true, it sounds like Nick covered for him.

17 posted on 07/20/2025 7:35:01 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: fatima; Fresh Wind; st.eqed; xsmommy; House Atreides; Nowhere Man; PaulZe; brityank; Physicist; ...

Pennsylvania Ping!

Please ping me with articles of interest.

FReepmail me to be added to the list.

Fun fact: Eire County borders Ontario.

18 posted on 07/20/2025 9:18:43 PM PDT by lightman (Beat the Philly fraud machine the Amish did onest, ja? Nein, zweimal they did already!)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...

19 posted on 07/20/2025 10:42:03 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The moron troll Ted Holden believes that humans originated on Ganymede.)
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To: george76

No statute of limitations on murder in most places.


20 posted on 07/20/2025 11:13:11 PM PDT by VanShuyten ("...that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable anima)
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