Prisoner with death wish to hang

Press, 27 January 1979, Page 9

Prisoner with death wish to hang

CNZPA Todele (Utah) Walter Wood has got his wish and has been

sentenced to death for killing a Lutheran minister, despite his assertion that he is innocent.

He has said he confessed only because he wants to be executed. A Utah District Court Judge, Ernest Baldwin, honoured the Canadian's request and set March 28 for execution. Wood, who is 40, immediately told the judge he wanted to be hanged. Ten days ago, when a jury convicted Wood, he demanded, “Take me to the firing squad right now.”

Utah is the only state in which the prisoner is permitted to choose between hanging or firing squad. Even as he demanded to be put to death, Wood maintained his innocence.

[ He waived his right to be sentenced by the jury, and before Judge Baldwin im- [ posed sentence he said his [decision was based in part ion what he called the brutal way in which the young minister died. Wood’s demand echoed the successful pleas of Gary Gilmore, executed by a Utah firing squad two years ago after he asked to die. Gilmore is the onlv person to have been legally executed in the United States in the last 12 years.

Mr Ansved, a newly ordained Lutheran minister, was killed as he carried petrol to his stalled vehicle where his wife and 2-year-old child waited. The police said he had been shot eight times. A companion of Wood. Joseph Johann, aged 33, Saginaw, Michigan, testified during the trial that Wood shot Mr Aasved after picking him up on the highway. Johann, charged with robbery, was granted immunity

from other charges in exchange for his testimony.