Texas Death Row Prisoner Faces Execution Tonight for Murder He Didn't Commit

No one disputes the fact that Jeff Wood did not kill anyone. But he was convicted and sentenced to death under Texas’s law of parties for the 1996 murder of convenience store clerk Kriss Keeran. Wood was sitting in a truck outside the store when the murder occurred. The man who confessed to the murder, Daniel Reneau, was executed six years ago.

But the Texas law of parties allows accomplices to be subject to the death penalty if a murder occurs during a crime, even if he or she did not commit it. So one year after Renaeu was given a death sentence for killing Keeran, Jeff Wood, was given a death sentence for the same crime. Essentially, for failing to anticipate that a murder would occur during the robbery.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Wood clemency on Tuesday, the day he turned 35 on deathrow in Livingston, Texas. His lawyers have filed a clemency letter with governor Rick Perry requesting a 30-day reprieve. The letter notes that Wood may be incompetent to be executed and requires mental health services. An initial jury had found Wood to be mentally incompetent to stand trial.

We go to the prison in Livingston, Texas where Jeff Wood is awaiting death. His wife, mother and father are outside. We speak with them there. We’re also joined in New York by Liliana Segura. She is a board member of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty and a staff writer and editor at Alternet.org.

Office of the Governor of Texas: 512-463-2000

Liliana Segura, board member of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty and a staff writer and editor at Alternet.org.

Danny Wood, Jeff Wood’s father

Kristin Wood, Jeff Wood’s wife.

Mitzie Wood, Jeff Wood’s mother.

Related Links

• SaveJeffWood.com
• Liliana Segura's article on Jeff Wood case (Alternet)