Fairfax woman pleads guilty to perjury

The Fairfax County woman who operated a day care center where a 21-month-old baby was fatally beaten pleaded guilty Monday to perjury and was taken to jail in tears to await sentencing in January.

The actions of Jillian Ahmad Wood, now 24, in 2006, led indirectly to a 20-year reduction in prison time for her former husband, Muhammad Ahmad. Ahmad was convicted of murdering Myles Simon after his then-wife left their home in search of cocaine, and was originally sentenced to 40 years in prison.

But a retrial was ordered after defense attorneys learned that Wood had been arrested with marijuana the night before Ahmad's 2007 trial, and Fairfax prosecutors, who used Wood as a key witness, had failed to disclose it.

Shortly before Ahmad's retrial this year, Wood phoned him in the Fairfax jail and asked for $6,000 in exchange for her favorable testimony. Ahmad managed to record the call, and Wood testified under oath that she didn't make it. Later, prosecutors said, she acknowledged that she may have made it while on a "drug binge."

With Wood essentially unavailable as a witness, Ahmad cut a plea deal for a 20-year term. Wood was charged with perjury, for her testimony at the first trial and about the phone call.