William Wood Jr.

A notorious murderer from central New York who has been staying in Warren County Jail because other jailers didn’t want him is getting the boot from Warren County as well.

William Wood Jr. shot and killed two people during a robbery at a Chili’s restaurant outside Syracuse in September 2018. He was convicted of two counts of murder in Onondaga County Court, but federal prosecutors want to try him as well to seek the death penalty.

So Wood has remained in county jails, awaiting a federal trial, but he wore out his welcome in Onondaga County so was transferred to Broome County Jail earlier this year.

Broome County wanted him out earlier this fall after he became too much trouble for them, and former Warren County Sheriff Bud York said the U.S. Marshals Service, which finds housing for federal inmates and compensates the county with daily boarding fees, called to see if he could be moved to the Warren County jail.

Sheriff Jim LaFarr, who took office Jan. 1, said Wood has caused problems in the jail, and the issues are not worth the boarding fees that the county is being paid to keep him. The latest was an incident where he threw toilet water with bodily fluids in it at jail staff. He has been fed the special prison dietary loaf as punishment during his stay.

“Because we are rigid here, he doesn’t like it,” LaFarr said.

Inmates who throw bodily fluids at jail staff can be charged criminally, but with Wood facing a life sentence and potentially the death penalty, no charges are expected.

“Charges would just tie him to Warren County,” LaFarr said.

Wood’s placement in Warren County had perturbed his lawyers in the Syracuse area, who asked last month that he be moved to a jail closer to Syracuse so he can assist with his defense in the upcoming federal death penalty trial.

Where he will be sent after he is taken out of Warren County will be up to the Marshals Service, which contracts with jails around the state.