Bibb County man convicted, sentenced to life in prison for shooting roommate in 2021

A Superior Court jury of eight women and four men found a Bibb County man guilty of malice murder after deliberating for less than an hour Wednesday.

Christopher Leon Woods, now 61, was sentenced by Judge Howard Z. Simms to life in prison after about one day of trial time. He was found guilty of malice murder after his friend and roommate Freddie Lee Battle was shot and killed at the house they shared on Bethel Church Road in Lizella in July of 2021.

The state’s case and evidence contributed to the swift trial, as Woods called 911 himself and admitted to pulling the trigger, a 911 call played in court showed.

“I killed my best friend,” Woods said on the audio recording that played aloud to a silent courtroom. “I shot him.”

Woods also told a Bibb sheriff’s sergeant that he “had wanted to shoot (Battle’s) ass for two years,” according to the officer’s testimony and body cam footage. Woods told the sergeant that the gun he shot Battle with was on his bed in the house.

The sergeant described Woods, who admitted to the killing and having the gun before he was questioned, as “talkative.”

Other testimony at trial included the crime scene investigator that took photos at the scene, the 911 dispatcher who spoke with Woods and the medical examiner that performed Battle’s autopsy. Evidence included Woods’s gun and the knives he had when he was arrested.

The defense council argued that Woods should be charged with voluntary manslaughter instead because Woods was overcome by an “irresistible violent passion” after Battle allegedly harassed him both physically and verbally.

Woods spoke about Battle repeatedly “ragging on him” in the body cam footage and 911 call, but there was no physical evidence of violence between Battle and Woods that day prior to the shooting.

During sentencing following the trial, Battle’s brother spoke to the court on how he had forgiven Woods, but that it was “between (Woods) and God now.”

“With friends like that, we don’t need enemies,” Battle’s brother said of Woods. “My family wants the court to know that they lost an uncle, a husband, a father, a grandfather and, most of all, a friend.”

Simms also commented on Woods’s crimes during sentencing.

“Most of the people that come in here charged with murder these days are a whole lot younger than me and you. They’re young, and dumb, and they hurt each other for no good reason,” Simms said. “Unlike them, you’re old enough to know better. You went to prison for that prior felony case. You should’ve learned from that.”