AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – A Texas appeals court has issued a stay of execution for David Leonard Wood, a man who has been on death row for over 30 years. Wood was scheduled to die by lethal injection this week for the murders of six girls and young women found buried in the desert near El Paso, Texas. This decision marks the second execution halt in the United States on Tuesday, following a federal judge's intervention in Louisiana's first death row execution utilizing nitrogen gas, which was set for the following week.

The appeals court's decision is a continuation of previous stays granted to Wood. He narrowly escaped execution in 2009, just 24 hours before it was set to occur, due to allegations of his intellectual disability, which would render him ineligible for execution. Although these claims were later dismissed by a judge, Wood, now 67, was on the verge of being executed once again on Thursday. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, granted a stay after Wood filed a renewed appeal asserting his innocence.

The court's order halting the execution was brief, consisting of just three pages, and did not elaborate on the reasoning behind its decision. Had Wood been executed, he would have spent an unprecedented 32 years and two months on Texas' death row, the longest any inmate has waited before execution in the state.

Wood was accused of the murder of six young victims in 1987, a case that remained unsolved for several years. Authorities assert that Wood boasted to a cellmate that he was the "Desert Killer." The bodies of the victims—Rosa Casio and Ivy Williams, both 23 years old; Karen Baker, 21; Angelica Frausto, 17; Desiree Wheatley, 15; and Dawn Smith, 14—were discovered in shallow graves in the same desert region northeast of El Paso. Additionally, two other girls and a young woman were reported missing but were never found.

Wood, who has a history as a convicted sex offender and has worked in various jobs, including as a mechanic, continues to maintain his innocence. "I did not do it. I am innocent of this case. I'll fight it," he stated in recent court documents submitted as part of his appeals process.

On March 4, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied a request from Wood's legal team to either commute his death sentence to a lesser penalty or provide a 90-day reprieve. For years, Wood's lawyers have sought the testing of hundreds of pieces of evidence for DNA. Notably, DNA testing conducted in 2011 revealed a male profile from bloodstains found on the clothing worn by victim Dawn Smith, which did not match Wood's DNA. Despite this evidence, the Texas Attorney General's Office has opposed new DNA tests, and various courts have subsequently denied Wood's requests.

In advance of the court's recent decision, Gregory Wiercioch, one of Wood's attorneys, emphasized that law enforcement's fixation on Wood as a suspect overshadowed the available evidence. "We've tried to make it clear to the courts that he’s innocent, and we'll see if anyone listens," Wiercioch remarked.