Stay granted for Texas death row inmate two days before scheduled execution
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay of execution on Tuesday for a man who was less than two days away from becoming the third inmate to be put to death by the state in 2025.
David Leonard Wood was convicted in 1992 of the highly publicized murders of six young women in El Paso. Wood has said that he did not commit the crime and that DNA evidence would prove his innocence. In the years since, Wood filed several appeals, including the latest habeas corpus appeal to the criminal appeals court in which he made eight claims, including that evidence in his trial was destroyed and that his conviction was brought using false testimony.
The court's brief order on Tuesday recognized the claims in Wood's appeal and granted an indefinite stay, but did not clarify which, if any, of the eight the court found to be potentially substantiated. The stay is the second reprieve that Wood has been granted in the days before an upcoming execution. In 2009, Wood's execution was halted over concerns about his potential intellectual disability.
The six girls and women Wood is accused of killing — Dawn Smith, Angelica Frausto, Rosa Maria Casio, Ivy Williams, Karen Baker and Desiree Wheatley — were between the ages of 14 and 24 and found buried in the desert northwest of El Paso. Media coverage at the time dubbed Wood the 'Desert Killer.'
The stay is the second time in less than a week death row inmates in Texas have been granted legal reprieve. On Friday, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the conviction of Brittany Marlowe Holberg, who received a death sentence for the 1998 murder of an 80-year-old man.
Wood's stay is also the second time Texas' highest criminal court has blocked an execution in under six months. In October 2024, the court halted the execution of Robert Roberson, who has maintained he did not kill his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in 2002.
We can't wait to welcome you to the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Step inside the conversations shaping the future of education, the economy, health care, energy, technology, public safety, culture, the arts and so much more.
Hear from our CEO, Sonal Shah, on TribFest 2025.
TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Man detained by ICE was already scheduled to leave, advocates say
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Grand Rapids immigration advocates are seeking the release of a man who they say was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement only days before he was scheduled to leave the country. Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE say Carlos Menjivar is at the Calhoun County Correctional Facility, which is an ICE holding facility. ICE did not immediately confirm that to News 8 Wednesday. The advocacy groups say Menjivar was detained June 4 when he went for what they called a 'routine check-in' at the office for the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program on Michigan Street NE near College Avenue in Grand Rapids. ISAP is an ICE program in which people are under supervision while their immigration cases make their way through the system, which can take years. Through it, contracted case managers can keep ICE agents up to date on cases and whether people are abiding by the conditions of their release, explains. '(Menjivar) was asked to come to this ISAP office with his paperwork, so his passport, and approve of them leaving (the United States). They had agreed, actually verbally agreed, with the ISAP office to departure this Saturday,' Movimiento Cosecha organizer Gema Lowe said at a Wednesday news conference. She said ISAP workers were supposed to check the paperwork and plane tickets for their return to Menjivar's native El Salvador. Instead, she said, he was 'arbitrarily' detained and ICE now has his and his family's passports. 'This family, they have been compliant to everything Immigration has asked them since they came to this country as refugees in 2017,' Lowe said. She argued that asking Menjivar to report to the ISAP office was a 'trap.' At the news conference, one of Menjivar's children held a sign that read, 'Te amamos, Papa,' or 'We love you, Dad,' in Spanish. ICE did not immediately provide answers after Target 8 sought information about Menjivar's status and details about how frequently people are detained at ISAP check-ins. GR Rapid Response to ICE organizer Jeff Smith suggested between eight and 10 people were detained at the ISAP office June 4. It was unclear how he reached that count. ICE has not provided any information. Immigration advocates went to the ISAP office that day and Grand Rapids police were called to ask them to leave. Smith said everyone who went to an ISAP appointment after the advocates arrived was allowed to leave as expected. Smith said the group is now offering to send advocates with people when they have appointments. Smith said advocates are calling for Menjivar to be released in time for the family's scheduled departure Saturday, that the passports be returned to the family for that travel and that ICE documentation note he left voluntarily. They have also asked U.S. senators and representatives to intervene. In the meantime, Menjivar's wife and three children are seeking sanctuary at Fountain Street Church, a nondenominational Christian church in downtown Grand Rapids, the advocates say. 'When the residents of our community are under attack or under threat, our doors are open to provide shelter and sanctuary,' Rev. Nathan Dannison, the pastor at Fountain Street Church, said. 'Our beliefs here at Fountain Street compel us to act.' Smith called on other Grand Rapids faith organizations to offer themselves up as sanctuaries. 'We're asking the public to see what's happening. This is the faces that they are brave enough to show and say, 'We're here,'' Lowe said. 'Even though they did they did everything they were asked to, they've still been separated. It's structural violence.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Families of those killed in collapse of Georgia ferry dock sue companies that built it
ATLANTA (AP) — Relatives of seven people who drowned in waters off a Georgia island after a ferry dock walkway collapsed announced Wednesday they filed a lawsuit against the companies that designed and built it. Dozens of people were standing on the metal walkway over the water between a ferry boat and a dock on Sapelo Island when it snapped in the middle. Many plunged into the water and got swept away by tidal currents, while others clung desperately to the hanging, fractured structure. The tragedy Oct. 19 struck as about 700 people visited Sapelo Island for a celebration of the tiny Hogg Hummock community founded by enslaved people who were emancipated after the Civil War. Reachable only by boat, it's one of the few Gullah-Geechee communities remaining in the South, where slaves worked on isolated island plantations retained much of their African heritage. 'It was supposed to be a celebration of Black pride, but it became a day of great, great, great Black loss of humanity and life,' civil rights attorney Ben Crump, one of several lawyers behind the lawsuit, told an Atlanta news conference. 'We're filing this lawsuit to speak to that tragedy.' Attorneys for the families of those killed and more than three dozen survivors say the 80-foot (24-meter) walkway was weak because of a lack of structural reinforcement, poor welding and failure by the Georgia firm that built it to follow design plans. The walkway was 'so poorly designed and constructed that any competent construction professional should have recognized the flimsy and unstable nature of the gangway,' the lawsuit says. Regina Brinson, one of the suing survivors, said she was on the crowded walkway when she heard a loud crack and saw family friend Carlotta McIntosh plunge into the water holding her walker. Brinson and her uncle, Isaiah Thomas, also fell. Brinson recalled prying her uncle's fingers from her shirt to avoid being dragged underwater. Both Thomas and McIntosh died. 'The pain doesn't get any easier whatsoever,' Brinson told the Atlanta news conference. Kimberly Wood said she tumbled from the collapsed walkway clutching her 2-year-old daughter. Her older girl, 8, clung to the dangling walkway's railing. Wood said she managed to tread water until she reached a life preserver tossed from the ferry boat. Her older daughter was rescued and treated for wounds to her hand, said Wood, who had an injured shoulder. 'I'm shaking now just taking about it,' said Wood, another plaintiff. The lawsuit targets four private contractors hired to design and rebuild the ferry dock and walkway for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The project was finished in 2021. The walkway was fabricated by McIntosh County business Crescent Equipment Co. Its attorney, Clinton Fletcher, declined to comment. The project's general contractor, Virginia-based Centennial Contractors Enterprises, said by email that it doesn't comment on pending litigation. So did SSOE Group, which purchased an Atlanta design firm named as a defendant several years ago. An engineering firm also named as a defendant did not immediately return a phone message Wednesday. The lawsuit doesn't target the Department of Natural Resources or any other Georgia state agency. It says the department relied on its private contractors to ensure the walkway was safely built, which was "beyond the scope of the DNR's internal expertise and qualifications.' The agency told The Associated Press last year that the walkway should have been able to support the weight of 320 people. About 40 people were standing on it when it snapped. 'There was supposed to be a certified professional engineer that signed off on that part of the project and that was neglected," said Chadrick Mance, a Savannah attorney representing nine of the injured. Filed in Gwinnett County State Court in metro Atlanta, the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for negligence, wrongful deaths and personal injuries. The cause of the collapse remains under investigation by the state officials, said Haley Chafin, a spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources. State Attorney General Chris Carr also tapped a private engineering firm to perform an independent investigation. ___ Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. ___ Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann Forced by U.S. Marshals To Move Out of Mansion — Report
When Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann's mansion in Atlanta went into foreclosure last December, we foolishly assumed that would be the end of their home drama. We were wrong because apparently, the Real Housewives of Atlanta alums continued to occupy the house for months after the foreclosure. It actually took a team of U.S. Marshals to get them out of there. Kim and Kroy's mansion went up for auction on December 3, 2024 after the couple spent months and months trying to find a buyer. They couldn't afford the house, and it turns out that selling a gently used 15,000-square-foot mansion is easier said than done. In the days leading up to the foreclosure, moving trucks were spotted outside of the house. Insiders said that both parties moved to separate rental properties. However, a new report from The Sun explained how the new owners of the mansion have been going through a lengthy legal process to get Kim and Kroy to leave. On December 21, the new owners filed legal paperwork to officially kick Kim and Kroy out of the home. They said that the estranged couple were holding the premises 'over and beyond the term' they agreed. According to the court docs, this went on for months. When they failed to get out of the house, the new owners had to enlist the help of the U.S. Marshals. Four marshals showed up at the McMansion on April 8, 2025, around 3:30 pm. Three hours later, the marshals confirmed that the RHOA alums were 'ejected' from the residence. Throughout Kim and Kroy's messy divorce, they repeatedly dialed 911 to have the police help them settle their arguments. Now that the marshals have given them the boot, we can confidently say we've reached the end of this saga. The Real Housewives of Atlanta streams on Bravo and Hayu in the UK and Ireland. TELL US – ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT KIM AND KROY CONTINUED TO OCCUPY THEIR MANSION AFTER THE FORECLOSURE? The post Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann Forced by U.S. Marshals To Move Out of Mansion — Report appeared first on Reality Tea.
