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More on the El Paso Case of David Wood

By Steve Hall

Diana Washington Valdez' report "Convicted serial killer David L. Wood's mental capacity is life, death issue," is in today's El Paso Times.Lawyers for convicted serial killer David Leonard Wood saved him from the executioner last week by arguing that he is so mentally retarded he cannot read.Many question the defense claim, and no less a figure than Wood himself has cast doubt on it. "I can read and write the English language," Wood said in a 1976 court statement, when he was 19 years old.He offered this self-assessment after being accused of indecency with a 12-year-old girl, one of several sex crimes Wood was charged with.To escape the death penalty, Wood must be able to prove he is mentally impaired. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted Wood's scheduled execution on Aug...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on August 28, 2009 (boomark / email).