Family to feel ‘closure’ through execution

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind.–Catherine Placencia wants to put how her father died behind her and instead focus on how he lived.\nShe hopes the execution of David Leon Woods, who killed Juan Placencia 23 years ago, will help her to do that.\n“Every time there’s a hearing, every time something has come up, we’ve had to listen to how many times he was stabbed and what parts of the body were stabbed – his brain, his heart, the stomach, the shoulder. We’ve had to go through that all the time,” she said. “We know how he suffered. Once Woods is gone, I just feel like there is going to be closure.”\nWoods was convicted of killing the 77-year-old during a 1984 burglary in Garrett, Ind., about 20 miles north of Fort Wayne.\nGov. Mitch Daniels said Thursday that he would not stop the execution planned for early Friday. The state Parole Board had earlier unanimously recommended against granting Woods clemency.\nThe decision means Woods’ last chance to avoid execution lies with the courts. His lawyer, Linda Wagoner, planned Thursday to appeal a federal court’s ruling denying Woods a preliminary injunction to delay the execution until a hearing could be held on whether the state lethal injection protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.\nWoods, 42, also was waiting for word on his request for the U.S. Supreme Court to block his execution, challenging the state Supreme Court’s method of determining whether he is mentally retarded.\nIf the execution proceeds as scheduled, Woods would be the first person put to death in Indiana since Marvin Bieghler on Jan. 27, 2007.