Outrage as man with IQ of child is due to be executed in America because his FRIEND shot a shopkeeper dead during bungled robbery

A MAN with the IQ of a child is set to be executed in the US - for a murder he did not even witness.

Jeffrey Wood is to receive the lethal injection in Texas next Wednesday.

But angry campaigners have pleaded with officials to commute his sentence.

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Wood defence lawyer Kate Black said: "I have never seen an execution in the United States with this low of a level of culpability as Mr Wood has."

The 42-year-old was sentenced after acting as the getaway driver for a petrol garage robbery that ended in a shopkeeper being shot dead back in 1996.

Texas' law of parties mean that anyone involved in a crime that results in a death is judged in the same way as the person who pulled the trigger.

Daniel Reneau, who shot the shop's owner in the head while trying to rob a safe, was executed 14 years ago.

Wood had helped him remove CCTV footage from the store before stealing a safe - but did not witness the murder.

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And those defending him say he could not have anticipated his accomplice would use a gun on the shopowner.

Demanding that her client is handed a reprieve, Ms Black added: "I think that this case is a really strong example of the problem with the law of parties and I think that the (Texas) Court of Criminal Appeals will take that very seriously."

With an IQ of 80, Wood is considered on the borderline of having a learning disability.

His daughter Paige said: "Jeffery Wood only has one child and that is me!!!

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"I have been deprived because of somebody else's crime. Should I continue to be punished?

"Please do not kill him... He did not kill anybody. He is a kind, gentle man and I need him! If you kill him... you are killing me!!!!!!!"

Church leaders have also urged Texas Governor Greg Abbott to show leniency in the case.

Texas executes more of its convicts than any other state, with 13 given the lethal injection last year and six already this year.

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