Lawyers question defense team

Craig Wood claimed he received ineffectual counsel from attorneys

On the third and final day of Craig Wood’s post-conviction relief hearing, it was his former attorneys fielding questions from the witness stand.

Wood was found guilty of the 2014 abduction, rape and murder of 10-yearold Hailey Owens and was sentenced to death by lethal injection, a punishment the ex-Pleasant View Middle School staff member and football coach continued to fight Wednesday.

Among the 55-year-old Springfield man’s claims relating to the trial and penalty phases of his case is the argument that he received ineffective legal counsel.

Wood’s new public defenders, Valerie Leftwich and Edward Thompson, had called on several character witnesses and mental health professionals who, according to Wood, weren’t utilized in previous court proceedings.

It was more nuanced than that, according to Patrick Berrigan, the case’s former lead defense attorney.

“It was hard getting many (character) witnesses to speak for him at that (previous hearing),” Berrigan said. “There was a lot of public pressure.”

Wood’s fate now rests in the hands of the same judge who put him on death row.

Greene County Judge Thomas Mountjoy, who is now retired but was called to observe the hearing, said he will review the court’s findings and make a determination in the coming months. Wood was transported back to the Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point after the hearing.

Missouri Supreme Court upheld Craig Wood’s sentence

Because of much of the Springfield area’s vitriol toward Wood and the case’s wide-scale media coverage, a jury from Platte County was used to help ensure a fair trial. Mountjoy, a longtime Greene County resident, continued to