Some of our online readers are taking us to task today for running a story about our interview with accused killer Michael Woodbury. The story – “Woodbury: I’m sane and guilty” – ran above the fold on the front page of today’s Press Herald and near the top of www.pressherald.com.

The gist of these reader comments is: Why are we giving this guy the time of day?

We believed the story was newsworthy given Woodbury’s statements to reporters at his Maine court hearing last week. In those statements, Woodbury admitted shooting and killing the three men in Conway and then said he had warned Maine prison officials before his release in May that he needed mental health treatment. Those comments raised the question of whether Woodbury would try to use an insanity defense at a trial.

But in Kevin Wack’s interview with Woodbury yesterday in jail, Woodbury backed off those comments, instead saying he was sane and that he planned to plead guilty to the slayings. In our view, that was a significant move forward for the story, a development that none of our competitors had, and one that merited front-page attention.

We also went into this interview prepared not to publish any story. We knew we were among several media outlets scheduled to interview Woodbury. We also suspected, based on his comments to reporters to that point, that he liked to talk. We felt strongly that he should not be allowed to use our news pages as a platform to say whatever he wants. Kevin’s mission going in was to get him to answer questions about the crime and his motives, and his alleged crime spree in other states. Had Woodbury refused to answer any of our questions – like he apparently did with some of our broadcast competitors – Kevin would have terminated the interview. As it was, Woodbury ended up answering just about everything we asked over the course of the 40-minute interview.

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