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Friday, May 04, 2007

Ind. Courts - David Leon Woods executed

Tom Coyne of the AP reports this morning:

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. -- David Leon Woods was executed by lethal injection early Friday for killing a 77-year-old man during a 1984 burglary.

Woods, 42, was pronounced dead at 12:35 a.m. Central Daylight Time, officials at the Indiana State Prison said.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected requests that Woods' execution be stayed Thursday, as did the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels also denied clemency for Woods on Thursday. The state Parole Board had earlier unanimously recommended against granting clemency.

Woods' attorneys had tried to stop the execution on the grounds that Indiana's lethal injection protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. He also disputed the state court's method of determining whether he was mentally retarded, which could have rendered him ineligible for the death penalty.

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has a longer story here by Angela Mapes.

Here is a list of ILB entries on Woods.

[More] Niki Kelly of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has a story today headlined "Executions set record pace under Daniels." It reads:

INDIANAPOLIS – David Leon Woods’ death would be the seventh execution since Mitch Daniels became governor in January 2005 – a historic pace after three years in office.

His term so far includes five executions in 2005 and one in 2006.

Former Gov. Frank O’Bannon – who died in 2003 – oversaw seven executions during his roughly seven years in office.

Former Govs. Evan Bayh and Robert Orr each supervised two executions each during their eight-year terms.

Joe Kernan did not go through an execution during his year in office, although he commuted two death sentences.

Daniels has also commuted one sentence – Arthur Baird II in 2005.

With the recent decision by a federal court to throw out Joseph Corcoran’s death sentence, Woods is the last northeast Indiana man on death row. Corcoran’s case is being appealed by the state, though.

It’s unclear who the next man who might be executed is, but Norman Timberlake had his 2007 date stayed by a federal judge pending a U.S. Supreme Court decision on executing the mentally ill. Michael Allen Lambert has also joined Timberlake’s suit and is near the end of his appeals.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 4, 2007 08:33 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts