Trial again

Today is the start of the second half of the competency hearing.  If you did not understand that last sentence; let me explain.  After a great deal of delays (2 years), the trial to decide if David Wood is intelligent enough to execute started in October.  They did not, however, schedule enough time.  This meant another 2 months went by wile the court's calendar opened up.  It starts today at 9 am El Paso time. 

I am trying not to get too wrapped up in it this time.  It became all that I thought about in October.  I actually had forgotten about it until I got an e-mail last Friday afternoon.  It made for a bad weekend. 

Trial starts finally

After 2 years of waiting, the mental competency hearing begins today. That is 2 years after his scheduled execution date. 23 years after he brutally killed my sister. They (the victim's advocate people Texas) keep telling me not to do this but I can not help myself. I read more things about him and the murders on line yesterday. I already know how my sister died; I have the autopsy results. She was stabbed 6 times in the chest. She was stabbed so hard that the knife went through her entire body. There were cut marks through both sides of her jacket and a gash on the internal part of her scapula. It took a lot of strength and a lot of anger to do it. The first 2 girls were strangled to death after being raped. Ivy's body was so badly decomposed by the time they found her that they could not tell if she had been raped. She was fully dressed though. I like to believe she fought him hard and he was not able to rape her. That maybe that was why she was stabbed so brutally. I have been told that they can not tell that and that there is no reason to believe she was any different than the rest. Maybe that is true, but I like to believe she went down with a fight. She was his last victim. People saw him offer her a ride home. He was her friend's boyfriend. She lived a tough life after our father died. I think she was smart enough to not get a ride with just anyone. Her life was so different than the rest of us. My father's death meant the best stepfather in the world for me and over seas boarding school for my middle sister. But ultimately death for Ivy. I feel like so much of my life has been me walking on the edge of this black abyss but I have been lucky enough not to fall in. I wish it were the same for you Ivy.

Another appeal. This time I found out through a letter. It was just a notification of transport. I had to call to find out what the letter was about. His competency hearing isn't until October 17th so why was he being transferred at the end of August? Two phone calls later and it is the same thing over and over again. I did not get to talk to my regular victims advocate. This woman was nice but not as polished or understanding as Karin. She told me that he had a right to keep appealing till the end. Yes, I know that. It does not mean that it does not through me in to a dark place every time I get a letter with this return address.

The photos they have of Ivy in the El Paso Times are horrible. You really can not see how beautiful she was. Honestly, the look like blobs. This is what she looked like before she was killed.

August 18th, 2011

I got an e-mail last night telling me that the judge ruled in our favor. There have been so many appeals and he was suppose to be put to death 2 years ago. So many delays. I wonder if it was not a death penalty case, would there be so many appeals?

The compatency hearing is scheduled for October 17th. I have my doubts that it will happen.

I ask Nicole what happened. Why did Ivy turn out so different than the 2 of us. She said, Dad died. When she found out he killed himself, she ran away. She hitch hiked from Colorodo to DC just to see if he was really barried there. To sse if he was really dead. She was 13.

another delay

This is the e-mail I got last night:


There was a hearing scheduled for June 20th, then July 11th for David L. Wood. The judge canceled the July hearing because he has a conflict that day.

Currently, nothing is scheduled. I will notify you as soon I a new hearing date is set.

Feb 22, 2011

Sunday night I was watching the movie Winters Bone, when my middle sister sent me a text about Ivy. It was weird timing because the darkness of the movie was making me think about her already. She wanted to know about the competency hearing. It was rescheduled to June and I don't know how, but Nicole was not told. I called on Monday to find out the answer to her questions.

Why the delay?
Why the new judge?
Why the new lawyer?

The judge was because the original judge was in a car accident. To make it speedy (this was a year ago) they switched judges. The delay was because the new judge (which is actually his original judge from when he was convicted) had a conflict. The new lawyer s because the DA had a conflict of interest.

These days are always tough on me. 24 years after her death and it hurts these days.

Anger

My anger pops up when I least expect it. I was listening to this song about God forgiving someone on death row and I got so angry. I hate that David Wood has made me into a person that would hate a Christian rock band for creating a song. Although I know they had good intentions their song created pain. My sister says she has forgiven him. I am not that evolved.

Another delay

In a way this is a good thing because I do not know if I would be able to get off work in February to go to the trial. However, he does seem to be amazingly good at prolonging his life. I honestly do not care if he is put to death or not, I just never want him outside of a jail cell. He is an evil man that should not ever be unleashed on the world. I do want this to be over. Every time it is brought up it opens a wound that I think all of us just wish could heal.