The conviction of David Leonard Wood in a 1987 serial killing spree should be reexamined by the trial court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednesday.
The ruling stops short of ordering a new trial, but it represents a major victory for Wood, who has maintained his innocence and twice came within hours of execution. The ruling could assure several more years of appeals in one of El Paso’s most notorious criminal cases.
The Court of Criminal Appeals, which rarely intervenes in death penalty cases, issued its ruling per curiam, meaning there was no written explanation of legal reasons for the ruling. But four of the eight judges participating in the ruling objected to at least part of the decision, indicating that the state’s highest criminal appeals court was deeply divided.
“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 El Paso Matters.
Judge Bert Richardson, who has overseen the case since 2011, will now consider Wood’s claims of innocence and his allegation of improper conduct by police and prosecutors in the case. Richardson has continued to preside over the case even after being appointed to the Court of Criminal Appeals in 2014. He did not participate in Wednesday’s ruling.
Wood, now 68, had an execution date on March 13, but the Court of Criminal Appeals stayed the sentence without explanation two days before.
Wood was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1992 by a Dallas jury that found him responsible for killing six girls and young women in 1987 and burying their bodies in the Northeast El Paso desert. He has been on death row since, with the Court of Criminal Appeals also staying his execution in 2009 a day before it was to take place.
Marcia Fulton, whose 15-year-old daughter Desiree Wheatley was among those killed in 1987, said she remains convinced that Wood was her killer.
“I’ve always said I don’t care how he dies, just as long as he does,” Fulton, now 72, told El Paso Matters Wednesday.
The 1987 disappearances of young girls in Northeast El Paso sent fear throughout the community. Wood was quickly identified as a suspect after police began finding bodies buried at what is now Painted Dunes Golf Course, but the evidence was largely circumstantial and he wasn’t indicted until 1990.
Wood had an extensive history of sex crimes and had been paroled shortly before the disappearances began.
The trial was moved to Dallas because of extensive pretrial publicity.
After the conviction and death sentence, Wood’s conviction took a meandering path through the appeals process.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office handled the appeals because Jaime Esparza, who briefly was appointed to represent Wood, was elected as El Paso district attorney in 1992, shortly after Wood’s conviction. The Attorney General’s Office did not respond to a request for comment from El Paso Matters.
El Paso District Judge Peter Peca presided over the trial and initial appeals, but in 2011 Richardson – who is from San Antonio – was appointed as the trial judge after Peca left the district court bench.
The Court of Criminal Appeals over the years rejected Wood’s efforts for a new trial several times.
Wood filed an appeal known as a writ of habeas corpus in February. His attorneys said they had new evidence that indicated Wood was innocent, and said prosecutors used false testimony from jailhouse informants to convict Wood.
Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Kevin Yeary issued a stinging dissent to Wednesday’s order remanding the case back to the trial court. The dissent was joined by Judge Gina Parker.
“The court does not bother to explain by what authority it may order such a remand – because there is no viable explanation for it. The court can get away with this only because no higher court exists that can tell it that it may not. I want no part of this blatant violation of separation of powers!” Yeary wrote.
David Schenck, the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, supported the decision to send Wood’s case back to the trial court but issued a concurring and dissenting opinion that criticized the lack of direction in the order.
“The order provides no guidance for what exactly should be developed, timeline for development, requirement of proceedings, or any other direction supporting our ultimate decision to dismiss or determine the application on the merits,” Schenck wrote.
Judge Mary Lou Keel also dissented from the order, though did not offer an explanation.
In addition to Schenk, judges David Newell, Scott Walker, Jesse McClure III and Lee Finley supported the decision to remand Wood’s appeal to the trial court.
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