The Latest: Appeals court halts scheduled Texas execution

AUSTIN, Texas – The Latest on a bipartisan push to halt the scheduled Wednesday execution of Jeffrey Wood (all times local):

6:25 p.m.

A Texas court has halted the execution of a man who was scheduled to die for a 1996 fatal robbery where he didn’t pull the trigger.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals acted Friday in the case of Jeffery Wood.

Wood’s case has captured attention across the U.S. over his culpability in the shooting of a convenience store clerk, his mental competence and criticism surrounding his original trial.

In a two-page opinion, the court ruled 7-2 that the death sentence was based on false testimony and false scientific evidence. The court said Wood will not be executed until those claims are resolved. Wood’s execution was scheduled for Wednesday.

Wood was convicted under a Texas law that makes a participant in a capital murder crime equally culpable, even though it was Wood’s friend who shot a store clerk.

This item has been corrected to reflect that the lawmakers hadn’t yet sent their letter to the parole board.

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3:40 p.m.

A Republican lawmaker in Texas says a bipartisan group of legislators will take the highly unusual step of urging the state to halt the execution of a man who didn’t pull the trigger during a fatal 1996 robbery.

Republican state Rep. Jeff Leach said Friday he’s preparing a letter that will ask the state parole board to stop the execution of 43-year-old Jeffrey Wood.

Wood is scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday. He was convicted under a Texas law that makes a participant in a capital murder crime equally culpable, even though it was Wood’s friend who shot a store clerk.

Leach is among the most conservative members of the Texas Legislature and says he supports the death penalty. He says the letter will be submitted this weekend.