Billie Austin Bryant
On
November 3, 1969, at 9:30 a.m., Judge Gerhard
Gesell told Billie Austin Bryant that he "would die in jail, but at the
time God so appoints." A jury in Washington,
D.C., had found Bryant guilty of two counts of
first degree murder in the brutal slaying of
two FBI Agents.
The jury had been unable to agree on a sentence,
and this responsibility was placed on the U.S.
District Court judge.
On
August 23, 1968, Bryant had escaped from the District
of Columbia Department of Corrections Reformatory
at Lorton, Virginia, by crashing an automobile through
a chain link gate in a temporary fence. He had been
working on the vehicle in the automobile shop.
Bryant had been sentenced on April 5, 1968, to serve 18 to 54 years in the
custody of the Attorney General after his conviction in the U.S. District Court,
Washington, D.C., for bank robbery and assault. This conviction resulted from
Bryant's participation in approximately six Washington, D.C., area bank robberies.
The
federal grand jury, Eastern District of Virginia
in Norfolk, returned an indictment on September 9,
1968, charging Bryant with violation of Title 18,
United States Code, Section 751, as an escaped federal
prisoner.
The
FBI began an immediate investigation, which included
interviews with Bryant's family and associates, to
apprehend him.
On
January 8, 1969, the Citizens Bank and Trust Company
of Maryland, Fort Washington Branch, was robbed by
a man who escaped in a maroon Cadillac. Two of the
victim tellers identified the robber as Billie Austin
Bryant, for they remembered him as a customer of
the bank prior to his conviction for bank robbery
in 1968.
The
FBI was immediately notified of this robbery and
of the tentative identification of Bryant as the
robber. Bryant's wife was know to reside in an apartment
in the Southeast Washington, D.C., area. Therefore,
three FBI Agents proceeded to the vicinity of her
residence to determine whether the maroon automobile
had been seen in the area.
After
determining that the Cadillac was not in the vicinity,
the Agents decided to advise Bryant's wife of the
robbery in case Bryant tried to contact her. Unwittingly,
the Agents passed Bryant's wife descending the stairway
as they proceeded to her apartment.
In
response to a knock by one of the Agents, the door
of the apartment was partly opened by a man who stated
that Mrs. Bryant was not home. The Agents identified
themselves and asked this individual if they could
come in and talk to him. The man stated that since
it was not his apartment he could not invite anyone
inside. At this point, the individual began firing
a gun point blank at the three Agents. After a quick
succession of shots, he slammed the door. Two of
the Agents were struck by the shots, and the third
fired two shots into the closing door.
The
third Agent immediately returned to the FBI car and
radioed for assistance. The two wounded Agents, Edwin
R. Woodriffe and Anthony Palmisano, were rushed by
ambulance to a nearby hospital where they were pronounced
dead on arrival.
SA
Palmisano was born on November 3, 1942, in Newark,
New Jersey. He was awarded a B.S. Degree in Business
Administration from a university in Newark. He entered
on duty with the FBI on June 27, 1960, and performed
clerical duties until he was appointed to the position
of Special Agent on July 10, 1967. SA Palmisano had
been assigned to the Charlotte, North Carolina, Office
before being transferred to Washington, D.C.
SA
Woodriffe was born on January 22, 1941, in Brooklyn,
New York. He graduated from a university in New York
with a B.S. Degree in Accounting. Before his appointment
as an FBI Agent on May 22, 1967, Woodriffe worked
as a part-time police cadet in a clerical capacity
and as a Criminal Investigator for the U.S. Treasury
Department in New York. Before being transferred
to Washington, D.C., Woodriffe had been assigned
to the Cleveland, Ohio, FBI Office.
In
a matter of minutes after the shooting, the apartment
house was surrounded by D.C. Metropolitan Police
Officers and FBI Agents. Tear gas was fired into
the apartment, but upon entry it was determined that
the individual had made his escape down a tree adjoining
the rear of the apartment near a bedroom window.
The
surviving Agent identified a photograph of Billie
Austin Bryant as the individual who fatally wounded
the two Agents.
An
intensive search of the surrounding area was conducted
by the FBI, the Maryland State Police, the Prince
George's County Police, the Prince George's Sheriff's
Office, and the Metropolitan Police Department in
an effort to apprehend Bryant. The manhunt by hundreds
of FBI Agents and local officers included helicopters,
dogs, and numerous roadblocks.
On
January 8, 1969, warrants were issued charging Bryant
with robbing the Citizens Bank and Trust Company
of Maryland, Fort Washington Branch, and with killing
the two FBI Agents. On the same date Bryant was placed
on the FBI's list of "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives."
At
approximately 6:50 p.m., on January 8, 1969, a call
was received at the Metropolitan Police Department
from an alert citizen in an apartment house on Mississippi
Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. This citizen reported
he had heard noises in the attic above his apartment.
He had heard about the FBI Agents being shot, and,
since the shooting had happened in the immediate
vicinity, he was suspicious of the noises.
A
detective from the robbery squad of the Metropolitan
Police Department responded to the call. After the
detective announced his identity, a voice responded
from the attic identifying himself as Billy Bryant.
Bryant stated that he had climbed into the attic
and the door had jammed, trapping him.
Bryant
was placed under arrest and taken to the homicide
squad of the Metropolitan Police Department. He furnished
a signed statement admitting the shooting of the
two FBI Agents, but added that it was in self-defense.
His time on the Top 10 list remains the shortest
of any fugitive - 2 hours.
On
January 28, 1969, a line-up was held at the Metropolitan
Police Department. The third FBI Agent at the scene
of the murders positively identified Billie Austin
Bryant as the individual who shot and killed SAs
Woodriffe and Palmisano.
On
March 5, 1969, Bryant was indicted by a federal grand
jury, in Washington, D.C., and charged with two counts
of killing a federal officer in violation of Title
18, United States Code, Sections 1111(a) and 1114.
In addition, he was charged with two counts of first
degree murder in violation of Title 22, District
of Columbia Code, Section 2401.
Bryant
was convicted in U.S. District Court, Alexandria,
Virginia, on April 10, 1969, of being an escaped
federal prisoner and was sentenced to serve three
years in the custody of the Attorney General. This
sentence was to begin upon expiration of his current
confinement.
On
April 14, 1969, Bryant was convicted in Maryland
State Court of the armed robbery of the Citizens
Bank and Trust Company of Maryland, Fort Washington
Branch. He was sentenced to serve 20 years to run
consecutively to any time received on federal charges.
Bryant
was found guilty of two counts of first degree murder
in U.S. District Court, Washington, D.C., on October
27, 1969. During his trial an expert from the FBI
Laboratory testified that bullets removed from the
bodies of SA Palmisano and SA Woodriffe, as well
as a bullet removed from a door opposite the apartment,
had been fired from Bryant's revolver. Three other
bullets, which had been removed from SA Palmisano,
a door molding, and the floor, were found to have
been fired from a revolver with the same rifling
characteristics as Bryant's. He also testified that
gunpowder residues were found on the dead Agents'
coats.
On
November 3, 1969, the U.S. District Court judge sentenced
Bryant to serve two consecutive life sentences in
the custody of the Attorney General. These sentences
were to be imposed, with no possibility of parole,
at the end of the 18 to 54-year sentence Bryant had
been serving at the time he escaped from the reformatory
at Lorton.
Bryant
was immediately transported by U.S. Marshals to the
Federal Penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia, where he
was received on November 4, 1969.
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