Why did Woody Seek Sanctuary

Why did Woody disrupt a church service with his plea for political asylum? Clearly he was in fear for his life. As witnesses attested to, Woody explained that he had been the target of a threat against himself and his family and friends. Woody clearly understood the right of sanctuary, which is why he chose a Unitarian Universalist Church in which to seek sanctuary.

Whether Woody's fears were justified may never be known, particularly given the lack of public transparency in the government agencies with police powers, from the local to the federal level. It was clear to the eyewitnesses that Woody's fear was genuine.

Woody's plea for sanctuary, which he made with so strenuously that every one of the eyewitnesses remember it, is completely absent from the Brattleboro Police report and is virtually absent from Attorney General Sorrell's Woodward Shooting Report , which goes to great lengths to paint Woody as psychotic while hiding the fact that he was afraid. Woody's repeated requests for people to stay and be witnesses for him is never even mentioned in the 14 page report of which perhaps one third is devoted to Woody's mental state. Whatever the basis for Woody's request for sanctuary, it is clear that the Vermont authorities prefer to avoid the subject.