$4 Poker Killer Released After Almost 40 Years

A man convicted of murdering a fellow poker player who he claimed stole $4 from him, has finally been granted parole after 37 years in prison - despite psychologists claiming he poses s risk to the public.

82-year old Matthew Gooch was jailed back in 1980 after he shot Franklin Woods Jr. dead with a shotgun blast to the neck after a poker dispute during a party in Modesto, California.

Gooch became angry after Woods took $4 from him, and went to a friend’s house and borrowed a shotgun, returning to the party where he ‘opened the door just wide enough to see Woods and fired one shot’, according to prosecutors. The bullet struck Woods in the neck, killing him, although Gooch claimed self-defence during his subsequent trial.

According to the Modesto Bee newspaper, Gooch ‘accused Woods of stealing the $4 from him during the card game. Gooch was convicted of second-degree murder with an enhancement for using a gun in the killing. He was sentenced to 17 years to life in prison and has been in prison for slightly more than 36 years.’

No release date has been set for Gooch, with the Governor’s Office still to consider whether to ‘uphold or overturn’ the parole board's decision, which came after an April 4th hearing which saw the victim’s daughter and his grandson speaking about the impact Woods’ murder has had on their lives.

According to reports, the ‘Deputy District Attorney Randy Fischer also attended the parole hearing and asked for Gooch to remain in prison’ after a recent psychologist’s report stated that Gooch, despite his advanced years, still ‘represented a moderate risk to the public if he was outside a structured prison environment’.