Jeffery Lee "Jeff" Wood (born August 19, 1973) is a man on death row in the state of Texas.
[2] As in the case of Kenneth Foster,[3] Wood's death sentence stems from the Texas law of parties, which is related to the felony murder rule.
[10] Wood and Daniel Earl "Danny" Reneau were frequent customers at their local Texaco convenience store in Kerrville, Texas, where they had befriended the assistant manager, William "Bill" Bunker, and clerk Kriss Lee Keeran.
[11] Bunker had given Reneau and Wood inside information about the store’s safe and surveillance recording equipment and instructions on how to enter the office from the back door.
According to a police report, Bunker could have prevented the death of Keeran, yet he was never charged as a party to the crime despite his role in the conspiracy to defraud the store.
Wood led police to the murder weapon, which Reneau had thrown from the truck in Val Verde County.
Following a competency hearing, the jury found Wood incompetent to stand trial based on the testimony of his counsel and a neuropsychologist, who stated that his delusional and paranoid thought processes affected his ability to grasp the risks of conviction and rationally aid in his defense.
The court sustained the objections, and thus no defense was presented to the jury, and Wood was subsequently found guilty of capital murder.
Wood then directed his counsel not to act on his behalf during the remainder of the trial, which resulted in the absence of cross-examination of the State’s witnesses, oral arguments, and mitigating evidence.
[27] Wood’s counsel stated on record that they considered his directives a gesture of suicide but did not request a mid-trial competency determination.
[32] After an evidentiary hearing, Garcia concluded that the evidence presented was insufficient to support Wood’s claim of incompetence, and thus his stay of execution was lifted.
[36] Wood’s clemency petitions have been supported by thousands of members of the public, media outlets, religious leaders, and Texas legislators.
[40] The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused to consider Wilke’s request as there was no execution warrant pending at the time.