Alvin Melleth

I did the hard-hitting research of reading the Wikipedia page about David Wood and, woof, six women and girls, one as young as 14, killed and buried in the desert outside of El Paso.

David Wood even got one of those spooky serial killer nicknames, the Desert Killer.

Greg wrote to me that David Wood was innocent, that he didn't commit any of these murders.

And sure, I did find George Hall's story compelling, but even if those informants were lying at the trial, that doesn't mean David Wood didn't do it.

Plus, in order to do the story Greg was pitching, I'd have to reinvestigate it from scratch, all six murders in a matter of weeks."

That sounded impossible.

But I was curious about what Greg was up to, his overall project, trying to sow enough doubt at the last minute in order to save his client's life.

I'd seen executions get staged for procedural claims about execution methods or a defendant's mental fitness.

But this wasn't just a claim about an unfair trial.

Greg was saying David Wood didn't do it at all.

And now, somehow, he's supposed to prove that in a few months.

In death penalty circles, many smart and knowledgeable people are critical of Gregg's line of work.

Prosecutors, judges, victim family members, they say that capital defense lawyers like Gregg are just ideologically opposed to the death penalty, zealots even, who will do anything and everything to stop or delay an execution.

And their work wastes time and money, harms the justice system, and worst of all, denies victims' families the closure they deserve.

All of that could be true.

Or Greg could have just four months to stop the state from killing an innocent man.

So I told Greg, I'm not going to do the big feature story on David Wood you're imagining.

But what if I follow you around?

Be there with a microphone as you strategize with your team, hunt for witnesses, and try to persuade people of David Wood's innocence with the clock ticking?

Greg had a million reasons to say no.