Mental disability claim denied for David Leonard Wood

An El Paso man convicted of killing six girls in 1989 is a step closer to being executed.

The Texas Criminal Court of Appeals has denied his claim that he is mentally disabled.

David Leonard Wood was sentenced to death by lethal injection but in 2009 the courts granted Wood a stay of execution.

The stay of execution came in only hours before Wood was expected to receive the lethal injection and 5 years later the courts have agreed he is not mentally disabled.

“I’ve lost my baby. She was my youngest. I will never know the names of her children. I will never see her married. I will never see any of those milestones,” said Marcia Fulton.

This is what Fulton told ABC-7 she was thinking before Wood was expected to receive a lethal injection.

Fulton is the mother of Deserie Wheatley, one of the young girls killed by Wood in 1987.

In 1992 Wood was convicted of killing six El Paso girls and burying them in the Northeast El Paso desert.

He was scheduled to be executed in 2009 but in less than 24 hours before Wood was put to death Wood’s attorneys claimed Wood was mentally disabled.

It was an effort Wood’s attorneys had also tried earlier in the courts but Fulton says Wood denied the allegations at the time

“He stood up in the courtroom and said ‘I am not mentally retarded’,” said Fulton.

After the appeal Fulton didn’t lose hope.

“In reality it was like OK OK this too shall pass. We will continue on, it’s not the end of it,” said Fulton.

A San Antonio judge who presided over Wood’s appeal later issued an opinion that Wood was not mentally disabled.

The case then needed to be reviewed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

After reviewing the evidence, this week the court rejected Wood’s appeal.

It has now been 22 years since Wood was sentenced to death row.

“I’m OK with this because I actually want to make sure that this is done correctly properly and he is given every opportunity to be shown innocent because the last thing I want is the wrong person to be put to death for my daughter’s murder,” said Fulton.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals doesn’t mention another appeal in which Wood requested additional DNA testing.

A new execution date has not been set.