When Greg Werchuk had a piece of a victim's clothing retested with modern DNA technology, it came back with male DNA — and it wasn't David Wood's. Texas has refused to test more than 100 other pieces of evidence.
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At 22:30 · chapter starts 22:10
In mid-December 2024, Maurice Chammas and his producer meet Greg Werchuk — who he describes as a younger Dick Van Dyke with nervous energy — at the El Paso County Courthouse with 87 days before Wood's scheduled execution. Werchuk lays out a multi-step strategy that sounds almost impossible: convince incoming Democrat DA James Montoya to reclaim the case from the pro-death-penalty Texas Attorney General, convince the courts to halt the execution, then test the DNA. The DNA issue is particularly urgent — a piece of a victim's clothing retested with modern technology came back with male DNA that wasn't Wood's, yet Texas has refused to allow testing of more than 100 other pieces of physical evidence. Werchuk hasn't even managed to get a meeting with Montoya, who apparently doesn't know who he is.
After retesting a piece of a victim's clothing with newer technology, DNA belonging to an unknown male — not David Wood — was discovered.
The state of Texas has repeatedly refused to allow DNA testing of more than 100 additional pieces of evidence from David Wood's case.
Greg Werchuk camps outside the incoming El Paso DA's office with no appointment. When Montoya sweeps by, what follows is an excruciating two-minute exchange that ends with a blunt 'It's not happening.' The awkwardness, Chammas says, felt like it lasted a week.
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