CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The former Albemarle County resident charged in the sniper-style shootings along Interstate 64 waived his preliminary hearing for the 15 felony counts against him.

Slade Allen Woodson, 19, made a brief appearance in Albemarle County General District Court yesterday in handcuffs and chains and donning an orange Middle River Regional Jail jumpsuit.

Woodson sat quietly and spoke little until retired Judge James S. Farmer asked him if he was certain he wanted to waive his right to the hearing.

"Yes, Your Honor," he said. Preliminary hearings determine if enough probable cause exists in a case to present to a grand jury to consider for trial.

Farmer certified the charges against Woodson to a grand jury scheduled to meet June 2.

Authorities believe Woodson and Brandon Dawson, 16, began their attack west of Charlottesville early March 27, just after midnight. Two motorists suffered minor injuries from the gunfire.

Woodson and Dawson were charged with shooting at occupied vehicles, shooting at homes along the highway in western Albemarle County and shooting at buildings in Waynesboro.

Dawson, who lives in the Crozet area of western Albemarle County, pleaded guilty in Albemarle Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court to eight counts against him. He is to be sentenced this month as a youth for five counts of shooting into occupied vehicles. Dawson is being held at Blue Ridge Detention Center in Albemarle.

Woodson faces those charges in addition to others that include malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and shooting into occupied homes. Woodson and Dawson face similar counts in Waynesboro in connection with shootings at the DuPont Community Credit Union building in western Waynesboro, and at a home in the city.

On Monday, a Waynesboro grand jury indicted Woodson on six felony charges, including two counts of shooting into an occupied building and three counts of shooting from a vehicle. He has a June 24 court date scheduled in that case.
Contact staff writer Calvin R. Trice at (540) 932-3674 or ctrice@timesdispatch.com.