Texas To Execute Jeffrey Wood Even Though He Didn't Kill Anyone

A man is about to be executed over a robbery that ended in a shopkeeper's death - even though he did not witness the shooting.

Jeffrey Wood, who is said to have the IQ of a child, is due to be given the lethal injection in Texas on 24 August.

He was sentenced under the state's so-called law of parties, under which anyone involved in a criminal plot that ends in death is equally responsible, regardless of their involvement or intent.

His crime goes back to January 1996 when he was the driver of a getaway car parked at a shop attached to a petrol station in the city of Kerrville.

His friend, Daniel Reneau, went inside to rob a safe. 

At the pair's trial, the court was told Reneau had intended the robbery to be without violence - but the shop assistant was shot in the head when he refused to comply.

A jail cell on death row in a Texas prison 

Wood, the court heard, had no idea Reneau was carrying a gun and rushed inside the shop when he heard the shot to see what had happened.

He then helped Reneau remove a video surveillance recorder before the pair fled with the safe and a cash box.

They were quickly identified and arrested the next day. Reneau was executed in 2002.

The defence lawyers representing Wood, who turns 43 on Friday, say he barely knew Reneau and could not have anticipated the shooting.

They are calling for a halt to the execution or at least a reprieve.

Wood's defence lawyer Kate Black said: "I have never seen an execution in the United States with this low of a level of culpability as Mr Wood has.

"I think that this case is a really strong example of the problem with the law of parties and I think that the (Texas) Court of Criminal Appeals will take that very seriously."

On a website set up to support Wood, his daughter Paige wrote: "Jeffery Wood only has one child and that is me!!!

"I have been deprived because of somebody else's crime. Should I continue to be punished?

"Please do not kill him... He did not kill anybody. He is a kind, gentle man and I need him! If you kill him... you are killing me!!!!!!!"

Several dozen church leaders have also written to Texas Governor Greg Abbott urging clemency.

Texas executes more people than any other state in the US.