Convicted serial killer’s case back to trial court

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)-- David Leonard Wood was convicted of the 1987 serial killing spree, and now his case is going to be reexamined by the trial court, this was ruled the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. 

“We are grateful that the CCA recognized the seriousness of Mr. Wood’s claims, which present a substantial amount of new evidence showing Mr. Wood’s innocence, including evidence that was withheld by the State during his trial. We are grateful to have the opportunity to keep fighting to prove Mr. Wood's innocence,” Wood’s attorneys, Jeremy Schepers and Gregory Wiercioch, said in a statement to ABC-7.

68-year-old Wood has had two executions stayed in the last 33 years, one in 2009 and the other just a few months ago in March. He was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1992. A jury found him guilty of killing six girls and young women in 1987 then burying their bodies in the Northeast El Paso desert.

ABC-7 spoke to the mother of one of the victims, Marcia Fulton, who says this ruling made her feel the justice system is serving Wood rather than the victims.

"All of a sudden, he's the only one that makes him. That makes any difference. I don't make any difference. And neither did the other mothers who lost children lost their girls," said Fulton.

Four out of the eight judges objected to this decision. The ninth judge, Judge Bert Richardson also presides over the trial court case therefore he did not vote.

In February, Wood's legal team filed an appeal called a Writ of Habeus Corpus, which stated eight claims that they say prove his innocence. Including claims that the prosecution provided false testimony and suppressed evidence.

For Fulton every time there's a change in the case she says she feels she's losing her daughter again.

"It just doesn't seem right that victims families that have already gone through one of the worst traumas they could possibly do in a lifetime keeps getting traumatized every time they do something," Fulton told ABC-7, "But here we are. I still got, you know, I still got her memory that will never go away. And I've got pictures and all that will bring."