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| JOSEPH R. WOOD III |
Source: www.azcorrections.gov
FROM: www.courtlistener.com (October 11th 1994)STATE of Arizona, Appellee,
vs.
Joseph Rudolph WOOD, III, Appellant
Direct Source Link
Joseph Wood shot and killed his estranged girlfriend, Debra Dietz, and her father, Eugene Dietz, on August 7th, 1989 at a Tucson automotive paint and body shop owned and operated by the Dietz family.
Since 1984, Joseph and Debra had maintained a tumultuous relationship increasingly fueled by Woods’s abusive and violent behavior. Eugene generally disapproved of this relationship, but did not actively interfere. In fact, the Dietz family often invited Joe to dinners and other social activities & events. Several times, however, Eugene refused to let Joseph visit Debra during business hours, while she was working at the shop. On the other hand, Joseph Wood disliked Eugene and told him he would “get him back” and that Eugene would “be sorry.”Debra had rented an apartment that she shared with Joseph. Because Wood was seldom employed, Debra supported him as well financially. Wood nevertheless assaulted Debra periodically. At some point she finally tried to end the destructive relationship after a fight during the 1989, 4th of July weekend. She left her apartment and moved in with her parents, saying “I don’t want any more of this.” After Debra left, Joseph ransacked and vandalized the apartment. She obtained an order of protection against Wood later on July 8th, 1989.
Joe Wood left at least 10 messages on Debra’s apartment answering machine on the night of Friday, August 4th, 1989. Some messages contained threats of harm, such as: “Debbie, I’m sorry I have to do this. I hope someday somebody will understand when we’re not around no more. I do love you babe. I’m going to take you with me.”
Debra and Eugene drove together to work at the shop early on August 7th, 1989, a Monday morning. Wood phoned the shop three times that morning, where Debra hung up on him once, and Eugene hung up on him twice. Joseph then called back again and asked another employee if Debra or Eugene were at the shop. The employee said that they had temporarily left but would return back soon. Debra and Eugene came back at 8:30 a.m. and began working in different areas of the shop. Six other employees were also present that morning. At about 8:50 a.m., a Tucson Police Officer saw Joe Wood driving in a "suspicious manner" near the shop.
The LE officer slowed her patrol car and made eye contact with Wood, as he left his truck and entered the shop. Eugene was on the telephone in an area where three other employees were working. Joseph waited for Eugene to hang up the phone, drew a .38 caliber revolver, and approached to within four feet of him. The other employees shouted for Wood to put the gun away. Without saying a word, he fatally shot Eugene once in the chest and then smiled. When the Police Officer saw (or heared) this from her patrol car she immediately called in for more Police Officers to get to the scene. Wood then left the shop, but in some moment quickly returned and again pointed his revolver at the now supine Eugene. Donald Dietz, an employee and Eugene’s seventy-year-old brother, struggled with Wood, who then ran to the area where Debra was working.
Debra had apparently heard an employee shout that her father had been shot and was trying to telephone for medical help when Wood grabbed her around the neck from behind and placed his revolver directly against her chest. Debra struggled and screamed, “No, Joe, don’t!” Another employee heard Wood say, “I told you I was going to do it, I have to kill you.” He then called Debra a “bitch” and shot her twice in the chest.By then several Police Officers were already on the scene when Wood left the shop after shooting Debra. Two officers ordered him to put his hands up. He instantly complied and dropped his weapon, but then regrabbed it again, and began raising it toward the Officers (possibly in attempt to deal with "suicide by cops"). After once more ordering Wood to raise his hands, the officers shot Joe Wood several times but did not die.
A grand jury indicted Defendant on two counts of first degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault against the officers. Although he did not testify, Defendant did not dispute his role in the killings but argued he had acted impulsively and without premeditation.
A jury found Defendant guilty on all counts. The trial court sentenced him to death for each of the murders and to concurrent fifteen-year prison terms for the aggravated assaults, to be served consecutively to the death sentences.
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Prosecutors ask Arizona court to order execution
FROM: The Washington Post (April 23rd 2014)
Direct Source Link
State prosecutors are asking the Arizona Supreme Court to order the execution of a man sentenced to death for killing his estranged girlfriend and her father in Pima County nearly a quarter-century ago.
The Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday asked for a warrant scheduling the execution of 55-year-old Joseph Rudolph Wood III for the 1989 killings of Debra and Eugene Dietz.
Appeals courts have upheld Wood’s convictions and death sentence and the Attorney General’s Office says Wood has exhausted his appeals and has no action pending in any court.
A defense lawyer for Wood, assistant public defender Dale Baich, says the Department of Corrections’ recent decision to use a two-drug combination for executions is “novel and highly untested.”
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Additional Information Links:
- http://www.azcorrections.gov/inmate_datasearch/results_Minh.aspx?InmateNumber=086279&LastName=WOODJOSEPH%20R&SearchType=SearchInet
- http://cronkitenewsonline.com/2012/09/appeals-court-rejects-claims-of-death-row-inmate-in-tucson-murders/
- http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/death-row/2014/04/23/arizona-joseph-wood-execution-lethal-injection/8056101/
- http://leagle.com/decision/1994233180Ariz53_1222.xml/STATE%20v.%20WOOD
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