Texas AG: Wood Not Mentally Retarded
EL PASO, Texas — TheTexas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay of execution for David Leonard Wood on Wednesday, even after theTexas Attorney General’s Office saidthe last-minute appeal from David Leonard Wood’s attorneys to delay his execution was without merit.
Wood’s attorneys argued that Wood should not be executed because he is mentally retarded. The motion was filed Tuesday.
Wood was scheduled to die by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas, at 5 p.m. MDT on Thursday for killing six girls and young women in the summer of 1987 and dumping their bodies in the Northeast El Paso desert.
The Attorney General’s Office responded that “a person afflicted with mental retardation could never have carried out a crime of this magnitude.” They also argued that Wood’s claim could have been presented earlier. Wood’s attorneys cite IQ scores from 1980.
Dolph Quijano, Wood’s attorney during his 1992 trial, said the topic of his client’s mental capacity came up in court. He said the jury heard testimony stating Wood has an IQ below 70.
“We put all the evidence before the jury. We had an expert from San Francisco come in and talk about his mental disability and the jury considered that,” Quijano said.
Click here for more information on Wood, including video from Wood’s trial and an interview with Wood from 2000.
Tonight at 10, ABC-7 will take a look at the death penalty itself.
