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Execution halted for Texas accomplice who wasn’t triggerman

CORRECTS SPELLING OF FIRST NAME TO JEFFERY FROM JEFFREY - This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death row inmate Jeffery Wood. A Republican lawmaker in Texas says a bipartisan group of legislators will take the highly unusual step of urging the state to halt the execution of Wood, who didn't pull the trigger during a fatal 1996 robbery. Wood is scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday. He was convicted under a Texas law that makes a participant in a capital murder crime equally culpable, even though it was Wood's friend who shot a store clerk. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)
CORRECTS SPELLING OF FIRST NAME TO JEFFERY FROM JEFFREY - This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death row inmate Jeffery Wood. A Republican lawmaker in Texas says a bipartisan group of legislators will take the highly unusual step of urging the state to halt the execution of Wood, who didn't pull the trigger during a fatal 1996 robbery. Wood is scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday. He was convicted under a Texas law that makes a participant in a capital murder crime equally culpable, even though it was Wood's friend who shot a store clerk. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP) CORRECTS SPELLING OF FIRST NAME TO JEFFERY FROM JEFFREY - This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death row inmate Jeffery Wood. A Republican lawmaker in Texas says a bipartisan group of legislators will take the highly unusual step of urging the state to halt the execution of Wood, who didn't pull the trigger during a fatal 1996 robbery. Wood is scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday. He was convicted under a Texas law that makes a participant in a capital murder crime equally culpable, even though it was Wood's friend who shot a store clerk. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)

By Associated Press 3 min read

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – A court halted the execution of a Texas man who was scheduled to die for a fatal 1996 robbery in which he wasn’t the person who pulled the trigger.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled 7-2 on Friday to put Jeffery Wood’s execution on hold. Wood, 43, was scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday.

The case has drawn highly unusual opposition from Republican lawmakers. It also has captured attention across the U.S. over Wood’s culpability in the shooting of a convenience store clerk, his mental competence and criticism surrounding his original trial.

In a two-page opinion, the appeals court said it was sending the case back to a lower court to review defense claims that the death sentence was based on false testimony and false scientific evidence. Those claims were based on the testimony of a since-discredited psychiatrist that Wood would certainly pose a future risk to public safety.

Wood’s attorney, Jared Tyler, who had sought the stay last month, said “the court did the right thing” in halting the execution and returning the case to a state district court in Kerrville, Kerr County, to have the claims resolved.