Alvin Melleth

Greg took on David Wood as a client back in 2009, the first time Wood was scheduled to be executed.

Greg managed to get a stay back then, no small feat in Texas, but eventually another execution date got set.

So now he's got exactly 87 days to stop it.

If you asked Greg, he could rattle off a bunch of holes he sees in the case, including that story from George Hall about the jailhouse informants.

But an even bigger issue, he tells me, has to do with DNA.

After he took the case, he asked the courts to allow the retesting of a few pieces of evidence with newer technology.

A piece of a victim's clothing turned up male DNA, and it was not David Wood's DNA.

Since then, Greg has been on a mission to get more evidence tested.

There are more than 100 other pieces of evidence.

But the state of Texas has repeatedly said no.

So that's what Greg is focused on today.

His plan is to meet with James Montoya, the incoming DA, and convince him to support more DNA testing.

And that's not all.

There's this other thing.

I won't bore you with the details of why this happened, but just know that years ago, the El Paso DA handed this whole case off to the Texas Attorney General, a very pro-death penalty Republican.

So what Greg really wants is for Montoya, a Democrat, to ask for the case back, then ask the courts to halt the execution, and then test the DNA.

Three huge asks.

That's Greg's plan.

But maybe it's not accurate to call this a plan.

There's no meeting scheduled.