The condemned murderer of a Pocatello newspaper carrier has ordered his attorney to drop his appeals, one year after another Idaho killer did the same.
James Edward Wood, 47, said he will not fight to delay execution of the death sentence he received on Jan. 14 for last summer's abduction and murder of 11-year-old Jeralee Underwood."He doesn't want to die, but he doesn't want to spend the next 20 to 30 years in a 7-feet-by-14-feet cage," Bannock County Public Defender Monte Whittier said Friday.
He said Wood signed an affidavit on Thursday affirming that he did not wish to enter into a lengthy appeals process of the death sentence issued by 6th District Judge Lynn Winmill.
Whittier said it still could be a year before Wood is executed by lethal injection, and he could change his mind about appealing the sentence at any point as others have.
But the lawyer said Wood seemed comfortable with his decision.
"He didn't hesitate to sign the affidavit in support of a motion to dismiss his right to appeal," said Whittier, who spent about an hour with Wood on Thursday at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution south of Boise.
Whittier said he filed motions with the Idaho Supreme Court on Friday to drop Wood's appeals. But he said the request does not affect the Idaho Supreme Court's automatic review of Wood's death sentence, and no death warrant can be issued until that review is complete.
The lawyer also said he has asked Winmill to order a psychological and medical examination of Wood to make sure he is competent to make a decision about the appeal. In addition, Whittier said he wants the judge to appoint an independent counsel to assess whether the death row inmate is making an intelligent decision and believes he has had competent legal representation.
Jeralee Underwood was abducted last June 29 as she collected on her newspaper route. Her body was found a week later in the Snake River in Idaho Falls. Wood confessed to kidnapping the girl, shooting her in the head the next day, then returning a week later to sexually violate and dismember her body.