Families Of Wood’s Victims Frustrated By Stay Of Execution

by ABC-7 Reporter Darren Hunt

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Had David Leonard Wood’s execution proceeded as planned, he would have been strapped to a gurney and facing death at a Huntsville prison at 5 p.m. today.

But Wood’s stay of execution means he probably won’t face death for at least another month.

Three family members of Wood’s six victims — Marcia Fulton and Sundee McPherson, the mother and sister of Desiree Wheatley, and Nicole Martin, the sister of Ivy Williams — had traveled from Florida and Colorado, respectively, to watch Wood die.

A court hearing in El Paso is expected to be scheduled soon to determine if Wood, convicted in 1992 of killing six girls and young women and burying them in the Northeast El Paso desert, is mentally retarded and therefore unfit for execution.

ABC-7 visited the family members at a hotel about a half-mile from where Wood was scheduled to die by lethal injection.

Fulton said the entire process has been exhausting.

“It is difficult and it’s difficult for every victim because we’ve been sitting here for 22 years. After 22 years, you expect something happen and when it doesn’t happen the way you are expecting, it makes you feel like, OK, here’s another thing that the victim has to put up with.”

Nicole Martin was just 14 when her sister, Ivy Williams, was raped and murdered by Wood in 1987. A frustrated Martin said she disagrees with Wood’s attorney’s claims that he is mentally challenged.

“As far as mental retardation goes, no. If you really look at all the history of all the times he’s been in front of the media, he’s been angry that anyone would dare call him that. For him to now claim that the day before, that’s just another control, power trip. And that’s his victory, but I don’t believe he’s retarded.”

Prison officials said that if another execution date is set, it will be at least a month before it can be carried out.

Back in El Paso, victim’s families also said they were frustrated by the news of the stay.

Amy Frausto’s little sister Angie was killed by Wood when she was 17. Frausto said her three daughters remind her every day of the sister she lost.

She said her sister loved and animals and wanted to be a veterinarian. Frausto said when she found out about the stay of execution, she knew her family’s suffering wasn’t over yet.

“To bring all this up again is really hard…I’m just very upset and angry. I mean, how many appeals does the guy have to have just because he’s afraid of dying…to meet his maker?” she said.

Frausto said she knows the execution of Wood would not bring her sister back, but she believes it would help bring her some closure.

Prison officials said Wood had visitors on Wednesday. They also told ABC-7 what Wood would have eaten for his last meal had the execution moved forward: four well-done pork chops, 20 pieces of bacon, French fries, four tacos, a half-gallon of milk and a bowl of black olives.