The Last 12 Weeks

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In 1992, David Wood was convicted of murdering young women and girls and burying them in the desert outside El Paso, earning him the nickname the Desert Killer. More than 30 years later, his lawyers have one last chance to argue his innocence and stop his execution.

“The Last 12 Weeks” follows a team of capital defense lawyers as they try to save their client’s life. The series, produced by Serial Productions and The New York Times in collaboration with The Marshall Project, focuses on the high stakes and at times bizarre work involved in trying to halt an execution. With an extraordinary level of access to a capital case in its final stretch, the longtime death penalty reporter Maurice Chammah takes listeners into the room with the lawyers as the clock ticks down. Maurice and Alvin Melathe, a producer, follow members of the defense team as they look for alternate suspects, try to find new evidence to poke holes in the case, and track down hard-to-find witnesses.

In the end, will the lawyers’ efforts be enough to persuade a deeply skeptical court system — and stop an execution three decades in the making?

“The Last 12 Weeks.” A five-part series … on a deadline.

• No. of episodes: 6
• Latest episode: 2026-06-18
• Society & Culture True Crime Documentary

Where can you listen?