Latest news with #DesertKiller
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Yahoo
Convicted murderer becomes Louisiana's first nitrogen gas execution after appeal denied
A Louisiana death row inmate on Tuesday was executed with nitrogen gas, a method that has never been used before in the state. "Louisiana has successfully used nitrogen hypoxia to carry out the execution of Jessie Hoffman," Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill shared with Fox News Digital in a statement. Hoffman, 46, was convicted in 1996 of the kidnapping, rape, and murder of 28-year-old advertising executive, Mary "Molly" Elliott. Elliott was abducted by Hoffman, who was 18 at the time, from her home the day before Thanksgiving and shot execution-style in rural St. Tammany Parish. Texas Execution Of 'Desert Killer,' On Death Row For 30 Years, Blocked By Court "Hoffman was convicted and sentenced to death for the brutal and merciless rape and murder of 28-year-old [Mary] Molly Elliott in 1996. Tonight, justice was served for Molly and the State of Louisiana," Murrill continued. Read On The Fox News App "Governor Jeff Landry and I made a promise to the citizens of Louisiana and to the family members of victims of these heinous crimes that we would follow the law and put them first." Hoffman declined to give a final statement before the gas began flowing, and he was subsequently pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, the Associated Press reported. Authorities said the nitrogen gas flowed for 19 minutes during what one official called a "flawless" execution, although one witness claimed to see Hoffman convulsing during the process. Shortly before Hoffman was scheduled to be put to death, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to deny a last-ditch request to block the execution. Texas Execution Of 'Desert Killer,' On Death Row For 30 Years, Blocked By Court Hoffman's attorney, Cecelia Kappel, previously and unsuccessfully argued in a state appeal that executing the convicted murderer by way of nitrogen gas was unconstitutional and would violate his religious freedom. "It's conscious suffocation," Kappel told WVUE. "It's having a pillow over your face. It's like drowning." The appeal stated that since Hoffman is a Buddhist, his breathing and meditation practices would be disrupted by the execution process. "He has proposed, 'Kill me with a firing squad,'" Kappel said. "'At least then, I'll be able to breathe air at the time of my death.' And the state has said no." Louisiana officials say that the method, which deprives a person of oxygen, is painless, declaring that it is past time for the state to deliver justice promised to victims' families after a decade-and-a-half hiatus — a pause brought about partly by an inability to secure lethal injection drugs, the Associated Press reported. Hoffman was granted a temporary reprieve by a federal judge, but it was overturned Friday by the Fifth Circuit courts and additional attempts to stop the state's execution were also rejected Tuesday morning. Murrill said the court's decision will help bring justice for Elliott. "BREAKING: Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturns injunction in Hoffman case. Convicted killer and rapist will be brought to justice on Tuesday," Murrill wrote in a post on X. South Carolina Sets Date For 5Th Execution In Under 7 Months "This is justice for Mary "Molly" Elliott, her friends, her family, and for Louisiana." Murrill added that she expects at least four people on Louisiana's death row to be executed this year. "The last execution here in Louisiana was in 2010 of Gerald Bordelon, a convicted murderer and sex offender. Justice has been delayed for far too long. I, along with the Louisiana Department of Justice, remain committed to ensuring justice is carried out in all death penalty cases in Louisiana," Murrill vowed. "I took an oath to follow and defend the law. Now Jessie Hoffman faces ultimate judgment before God in the hereafter. My prayers remain with Molly Elliott's family and friends, and that no family member ever has to go through the pain that they still feel to this day for the loss of someone like Molly." South Carolina Death Row Inmate Chooses Firing Squad As Execution Method Hoffman is set to become the seventh person executed in the U.S. in 2025, and the first in Louisiana since 2010. He was the fifth person in the U.S. ever to be executed by nitrogen gas, with the previous four occurring in Alabama. Death by nitrogen gas is currently allowed in only four states, including Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma. However, the method has only been used in Alabama. Over recent decades, the number of executions nationally has declined sharply amid legal battles, according to the AP, which has led a majority of states to either abolish or pause carrying out the death penalty. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Original article source: Convicted murderer becomes Louisiana's first nitrogen gas execution after appeal denied
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Yahoo
El Paso Sheriff's Office asks for help to find teen girl missing for more than a month
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office is asking for help in finding a teen girl who has been missing for nearly a month. Alanie Rose Rodriguez, 16, was reported missing on Feb. 15 from the 5000 block of Desert Willow Drive in the Homestead Meadows (Montana Vista) area of eastern El Paso County, the Sheriff's Office said. 'Desert Killer' case: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halts execution of death row inmate David Leonard Wood A news bulletin about the missing juvenile was issued by the Sheriff's Office on Thursday, March 13. Rodriguez, also known as Queen, was last seen wearing a black sweater and black sweatpants. She is believed to be in need of an unspecified medical care, sheriff officials said. Anyone with information on Rodriguez may call the El Paso County Sheriff's Office at 915-832-4408 or call 911. More: 'I pray every day for her': Remembering 'Desert Killer' David Wood's victims This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Missing persons: El Paso area teen missing for more than a month
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Yahoo
Texas 'Desert Killer' David Leonard Wood gets rare stay of execution: What to know
The highest court in Texas on Tuesday issued a rare stay of execution for David Leonard Wood, who has always denied being the so-called "Desert Killer" and reiterated his innocence in a recent hourlong interview with USA TODAY. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued the stay "until further order of this court" without explanation. The order came just over 48 hours before Wood, 67, was set to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday. Wood has been on Texas Death Row for nearly four decades even though no DNA evidence linked him to the murders of six women and girls in El Paso in 1987. 'I'm accused of killing six people when an entire police force couldn't find a single shred of evidence of anything,' Wood told USA TODAY on Feb. 26 during an interview at a Texas state prison north of Houston. 'How can I not be angry at the corruption that put me here? How can you let people just dump cases on you and not be angry?' The incredible move by the Texas court came almost simultaneously as a federal judge in Louisiana temporarily blocked that state's first nitrogen gas execution, scheduled for March 18, ruling that it could cause the inmate "pain and terror" and violate his constitutional rights. Here's what you need to know about Wood's case. More from Texas death row: Robert Roberson again asks Texas' highest criminal court to free him, citing new evidence A jury convicted Wood of killing six women and girls in 1987 in a case dubbed by local media as the "Desert Killer." The victims are: 14-year-old Dawn Marie Smith, 15-year-old Desiree Wheatley, 17-year-old Angelica Frausto, 20-year-old Karen Baker, 23-year-old Ivy Susanna Williams, and 24-year-old Rosa Maria Casio. Their bodies were all found in various states of decomposition in shallow graves in the same desert area in northeast El Paso. Investigators couldn't determine how many of them were killed, though at least one had been strangled. Police believed three missing girls – 12-year-old Melissa Alaniz, 14-year-old Marjorie Knox and 19-year-old Cheryl Vasquez-Dismukes − were also victims of the Desert Killer, but their bodies were never found. Wood's conviction was based mainly on circumstantial evidence. No DNA evidence has ever connected him to the murders. El Paso Assistant District Attorney Karen Shook told jurors during trial that the 'case in the totality points to David Wood.' "It's clear that the signature aspect of these murders was the shallow graves in this dark, isolated desert area," she said. "It became the private graveyard of the defendant, David Wood." Jurors heard testimony from two jailhouse informants who said Wood confessed to the killings, and a sex worker who said Wood raped her in the same desert area where the bodies were found and had begun digging her grave when a nearby noise startled him. Wood, who was convicted of the sex worker's rape, told USA TODAY that all three were lying and were only helping prosecutors in exchange for leniency in their own cases. 'I've never confessed anything to anybody about anything,' he said. In a recent court filing, Wood's attorneys said that both jailhouse informants and the sex worker either got many years shaved off of prison sentences or were seeking a financial reward. The filing also details a statement from a man named George Hall, who described how El Paso police tried to get him to lie that Wood had confessed to the murders while they were jailed together. Additional testimony came from a 26-year-old woman who said Wood raped her under an El Paso bridge when she was 13, according to archived coverage by the Associated Press at the time. Another woman testified that she was 12 when Wood lured her by saying he needed help finding a lost dog and then raped her at a nearby construction site, AP reported. The state's remaining evidence included testimony from witnesses saying they had seen some of the women and girls with Wood ahead of their murders and microscopic orange fibers that prosecutors argued connected one of the women's bodies with Wood's vacuum cleaner and a blanket in his truck. Six of the justices voted to stay the execution, while Judge Mary Lou Keel and Judge Gina G. Parker voted against stopping it, records show. Judge Bert Richardson did not participate in the vote. While the justices' motivations remain unclear, Wood has claimed his constitutional rights were violated in the following ways: Wood's claiming he is innocent. The state obtained a conviction by presenting false testimony. The suppression of evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland. Claims that the state destroyed evidence in violation of due process. Wood's trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance. Wood's counsel represented him while operating under an actual conflict of interest. Wood's rights to a unanimous jury verdict. The confrontation of witnesses. Wood's attorney, Gregory Wiercioch, told USA TODAY last week that the state's evidence connecting him to the murders is weak and criticized prosecutors for failing to test barely any of the items collected from the scene for DNA. Only three pieces of evidence of hundreds were ever tested − fingernail scrapings from one victim and bloodstains on the clothing of two other victims. Tests on the fingernail scraping and one of the bloodstains were inconclusive. The other bloodstain belonged to a man but couldn't have been Wood's, new DNA testing obtained by defense attorneys in 2010 found. 'This is a serial murder case, a case with six victims, and in a serial murder case, I would expect the government, the state, to have a mountain of evidence − direct evidence tying David Wood to these victims, and there's not,' Wiercioch said. 'It's incomprehensible to me how little evidence there is.' Wiercioch filed recent actions seeking to stop the execution with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Feb. 21. That court, the same one that issued Tuesday's stay of execution, rejected previous requests for more DNA testing. "To this day, it is still mind-boggling why (the state) didn't agree to more testing," Wiercioch said. "I think they're afraid of what they would find. If they believe David Wood is the desert serial murderer, then why are they afraid of additional testing? We've never tested anything other than those three items out of 135, and one excluded David Wood. That's very troubling." The Texas Attorney General's Office has not responded to repeated requests for comment from USA TODAY. The El Paso District Attorney's Office, which prosecuted the case, declined to comment about the strength of the evidence, saying it recused itself from the matter in 1993 over a conflict of interest. This isn't the first time Wood's execution has been delayed. Just 24 hours before his scheduled execution in 2009, it was halted due to claims that Wood was intellectually disabled and therefore not fit for the death penalty, NBC News reports. A judge has since rejected the claims. Jolieen Denise Gonzalez, 17-year-old victim Angelica Frausto's sister, told USA TODAY that Tuesday's development was 'fair.' 'I don't think he should die for my sister's murder,' Gonzalez said. 'I do not believe that I'm going to live to see my sister get justice.' She previously told USA TODAY that she thought Wood helped plan her sister's murder but didn't kill her himself. But Marcia Fulton, mother of 15-year-old victim Desiree Wheatley, told USA TODAY that she was disappointed in the stay but not surprised. Fulton was planning to drive 720 miles from El Paso to Huntsville to witness Wood's execution on Thursday. "I'm waiting for justice for my daughter because I promised her that at her gravesite. Each time this happens, it breaks my heart again, that I can't follow through," Fulton said. "Victims have no justice system. Disappointed yes, but it's not like I am waiting for him to die." The execution of a death row inmate in South Carolina made national news last week. Brad Keith Sigmon on Friday for the beating deaths of his ex-girlfriend's parents, marking the first firing squad execution in the state in modern history and the first in the U.S. since 2010. How does a firing squad execution work? Brad Keith Sigmon executed in South Carolina in 'bloody spectacle' — USA TODAY contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas 'Desert Killer' David Leonard Wood gets rare stay of execution
Fox News
12-03-2025
- Fox News
Texas execution of 'desert killer,' on death row for 30 years, blocked by court
Texas death row inmate David Leonard Wood's execution, which had been set for this week, was halted by a Texas appeals court on Tuesday. Wood, 67, has spent nearly 33 years on death row and had been set to die by lethal injection this week over the killings of six girls and young women found buried in the desert near El Paso. The court put Wood's execution on pause "until further order," without elaborating in their three-page order. Six of the nine members of the court made that decision, FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth reported. Judges Mary Lou Keel and Gina Parker disagreed with staying Wood's execution and Judge Bert Richardson, who had heard all of Wood's appeals in trial court since 2011, did not participate. This was another delay for Wood, who was previously set for execution in 2009 when it was put on hold about 24 hours beforehand over claims he was intellectually disabled and thus ineligible for execution. Those claims were later rejected by a judge, and Wood had been set to die Thursday. The 1987 murders remained unsolved for several years until authorities say Wood bragged to a cellmate that he was the so-called "Desert Killer." The victims' bodies were found buried in shallow graves in the same desert area northeast of El Paso. Authorities said Wood gave rides to the victims and then drove them into the desert, where he sexually assaulted and killed them. The victims were Rosa Casio and Ivy Williams, both 23; Karen Baker, 21; Angelica Frausto, 17; Desiree Wheatley, 15; and Dawn Smith, 14. Two other girls and a young woman were also reported missing but were never found. Wood, a repeat convicted sex offender who worked as a mechanic, has long maintained his innocence. "I did not do it. I am innocent of this case. I'll fight it," Wood said in recent documents filed in his appeals. Wood's execution was the second halted in the U.S. on Tuesday after a federal judge stopped Louisiana's first death row execution using nitrogen gas, which was to take place next week.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Yahoo
Court stays execution of Texas man days before he was set to die by lethal injection
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas appeals court on Tuesday halted the execution of a man who has spent more than 30 years on death row and had been set to die by lethal injection this week over the killings of six girls and young women found buried in the desert near El Paso. It was the second scheduled execution in the U.S. halted on Tuesday after a federal judge stopped Louisiana's first death row execution using nitrogen gas, which was to take place next week. In Texas, the order was another reprieve for David Leonard Wood, who in 2009 was about 24 hours away from execution when it was halted over claims he is intellectually disabled and thus ineligible for execution. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Those claims were later rejected by a judge and Wood, 67, had been set to die Thursday. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, issued a stay of execution after his latest appeal, which renewed his claims of innocence. The court put Wood's execution on pause 'until further order." It did not elaborate on the decision in a brief three-page order. Had Wood been executed this week, he would have spent 32 years and two months on Texas' death row, the longest time a Texas inmate has waited before being put to death. The 1987 murders remained unsolved for several years until authorities say Wood bragged to a cellmate that he was the so-called 'Desert Killer.' The victims' bodies were found buried in shallow graves in the same desert area northeast of El Paso. Authorities said Wood gave rides to the victims and then drove them into the desert, where he sexually assaulted and killed them. The victims were Rosa Casio and Ivy Williams, both 23; Karen Baker, 21; Angelica Frausto, 17; Desiree Wheatley, 15; and Dawn Smith, 14. Two other girls and a young woman were also reported missing but were never found. Wood, a repeat convicted sex offender who had worked as a mechanic, has long maintained his innocence. 'I did not do it. I am innocent of this case. I'll fight it,' Wood said in recent documents filed in his appeals. On March 4, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles declined a request to commute his death sentence to a lesser penalty or grant him a 90-day reprieve. His lawyers have for years sought to have hundreds of pieces of evidence tested for DNA after testing in 2011 of bloodstains on the clothing Smith wore found a male DNA profile that was not Wood. The Texas Attorney General's Office has fought against new DNA tests and various courts have denied Wood's request for it. Prior to the court's decision Tuesday, Gregory Wiercioch, one of Wood's attorneys, said that when authorities identified Wood as a suspect, they focused on him and not on the evidence they had. 'We've tried to make it clear to the courts that he's innocent, and we'll see if anyone listens,' Wiercioch said.
