Joseph Wood, III v. Charles Ryan

Joseph Wood, an Arizona state prisoner whose execution is set for July 23, 2014, appeals the district court’s denial of his motion for relief from judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b), his motion for a stay of execution, and his motion to amend or alter judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e). We affirm.

I

Wood shot and killed his estranged girlfriend, Debra Dietz, and her father, Eugene Dietz, in 1989. Following a jury trial, Wood was convicted of two counts of first degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to death for each murder. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentences in 1994. State v. Wood, 180 Ariz. 53 , 881 P.2d 1158 (1994). The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari in 1995. Wood v. Arizona, 515 U.S. 1147 , 115 S.Ct. 2588 , 132 L.Ed.2d 836 (1995).

Wood filed his first state petition for post-conviction relief under Rule 32 of the Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure (“PCR”) in 1992. The trial court stayed the petition pending the outcome of the direct appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court. He filed a new PCR petition in 1996. The trial court denied the petition on…