moving on and making a difference

Spotlight on Flozelle Woodmore

From victim to murderer to advocate
Woman who killed her abuser
spreads anti-violence message to local students

BROOKE EDWARDS Staff Writer
April 11, 2008 - 6:57PM

Some may find a convicted murderer a surprising choice to speak to students at Apple Valley High School.

But who better to preach against violence than a woman who was a victim of severe domestic abuse, took revenge against her abuser and spent half her life paying the price?

"The main message I want to get across to them," said Flozelle Woodmore, 40, "is not to be afraid to seek help if they are in a situation that is causing them harm."

Though she doesn't paint herself as a victim, Woodmore said fear and a lack of options were what led her to fire a single shot and kill her abusive boyfriend when she was 18 years old.

When Woodmore was 13 she got into a relationship with her first boyfriend Clifton Morrow, who was six years her senior. The couple soon had a child and Woodmore dropped out of school.

Morrow quickly became abusive, she said, beating her, burning her, pushing her down stairs and more. Neighbors, family and friends later testified to this abuse.

Woodmore said she wanted out, but the abuse had taken its toll. Morrow alternated between beating her up and showering her with attention, and she developed a distorted sense of loyalty to him. Also as a minor, she was unable to file for a restraining order and there were few shelters willing to take a girl her age in. She was turned away from the House of Ruth at 15.When she turned 18, Woodmore finally left and wound up pregnant for the second time by another man. When Morrow found out, she said he attacked her, pushed their two-year-old son and threatened both of their lives.

The night before, Woodmore said she had taken a gun that belonged to her parents, who often pulled it on each other when fighting. She hid it in her purse, as she had often done since she was 12, in hopes of preventing tragedy. Instead, fearing for Clifton Jr., herself and the life of her unborn daughter, Woodmore made her own deadly decision.

Woodmore was quickly arrested and immediately confessed. She was convicted of second-degree murder and sent to the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla in 1987.

While there, she began counseling other women with a history of abuse. She said that for many of them, the fear was so intense that they found it difficult to speak out. But Woodmore pushed her fear aside. She became both a listening ear and a voice for these woman, refusing to leave the office of those in charge until their cases were heard.

"I had to help them first, before I could help me," she said. "Now the voices are stronger inside, as well as outside."

Given her good behavior and the circumstances of her crime, the parole board recommended Woodmore for release when her 15 years were up in 2002. However, then-Governor Gray Davis overturned the decision, refusing to allow any convicted murderers out on parole.

Woodmore was recommended five more times before Governor Schwarzenegger upheld the parole board's decision and signed her release last August. She was reunited with her daughter, whom she gave birth to in prison, and her 2-year-old granddaughter. She hasn't seen her son since he was nine. He is now in prison for murder, serving 129 years to life.

Since October, Woodmore has been working for a Los Angeles non-profit called A New Way of Life. The organization provides sober-living facilities, schooling, transportation and other services for women coming out of prison and their children. Woodmore is also active in pushing legislation to further protect battered women, including an extension to a bill that helps defend women still behind bars for crimes against their abusers.
But she said her most important mission is to find a way to put an end to domestic violence.

"The only way I know how to do that is to stop it before it starts," she said. "My targets are the teens because I was a teen when I got involved in my abusive relationship."

This is what led her to Apple Valley High Friday, speaking to young mothers, peer counselors and boys a step away from juvenile hall. Woodmore held one girl after the presentation, as the teen sobbed over her own experiences.

"We have domestic violence going on right now in the high schools," said Darryl Evey, executive director for the High Desert Domestic Violence Program.

Evey arranged for Woodmore to come to the High Desert, which is not an easy task. She has to get special permission from her parole officer and arrange transportation from her brother, since she hasn't yet gotten a driver's license.

But this doesn't deter her from her mission. Woodmore plans to speak to other members of the local community at the end of this month.

Though she said she still has some anger towards the system, having lost half her life to a moment's bad decision, Woodmore is unwilling to waste another minute.

Brooke Edwards may be reached at 955-5358 or at bedwards@vvdailypress.com.