David Leonard Wood’s ‘jailhouse snitch’
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- A man who was in prison alongside David Leonard Wood, aka "The Desert Serial Killer" of El Paso, says that the testimony of two other men who also served time with Wood was falsely given in return for deals on their sentences and reward money.
George Hall was serving 45 years in prison for murder in 1989 when he was housed in the same unit as Wood for a separate sexual assault conviction in Lovelady, Texas. In 1990, after being transferred to another unit in Amarillo, Hall was brought to El Paso and along with two other inmates, James Sweeney and Randy Wells, to meet with El Paso Police Department investigators.
"Well, I don't call myself a whistleblower, exactly," Hall said. "But basically what I know is - I know for a fact that Wells and Sweeney fabricated their testimony because they got deals. I know Woods has never, ever admitted anything concerning that case."
Hall, who was on probation until February of last year, has his sworn statement opposing the testimony of the 'jailhouse snitches' included in the appeal filed by Wood's attorney late last month that seeks to stave off the execution scheduled for this Thursday. Wood was convicted in 1992 of capital murder and sentenced to the death penalty for the murder of six girls and women whose bodies were found in remote areas of the desert surrounding El Paso around 1987.
Speaking by video call from his home in Missouri, Hall told ABC-7 that he's followed Wood's case over the years. He says he's not opposed to the death penalty for the person who committed the crimes wood was convicted of - the murder of six girls and women whose bodies were found in the northeast El Paso desert. But Hall doesn't believe Wood did it.
"The main part of it is the jailhouse (snitch) - They've used perjured testimony," Hall said. "And they knew it was perjured. It's false. They both lied. They both got deals."
Hall has lived in Missouri since being released in 1994 and was on parole for the following 30 years, ending in February 2024. He says he didn't feel he could come forward before then due to the threat of retaliation, but couldn't stay silent any longer.
"I'd have to build another 30 years in prison," Hall said. "That is one. But I have to say something now, because if I don't, I'm worse than Wells and Sweeny was. I might as well walk up and put the needle in his arm."
Online court records show that appeals have been denied federally by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. A state appeal filed with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is still pending.
