Supreme Court of Missouri / Jul 16, 2019
State of Missouri, Respondent, vs. Craig Michael Wood, Appellant.
Craig Wood was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for the abduction, rape, and murder of 10-year-old Hailey Owens. On appeal, Wood challenged several evidentiary rulings, the prosecutor's closing argument, a juror strike, and the constitutionality of Missouri's death penalty procedure. The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed the judgment, finding no abuse of discretion in evidentiary rulings or juror selection, no plain error in the closing argument, and that the death penalty statutes are constitutional.