Man who plotted ex-wife's murder sentenced

A Carson City man once convicted of orchestrating a 1997 attempt to kill his ex-wife will spend at least eight more years behind bars.

The case of Allen Dwight Wood, 37, was sent back to Judge Michael Griffin's courtroom in December after the Nevada Supreme Court decided that second-hand testimony should not have been allowed in the original trial.

Wood was convicted of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and soliciting murder. He was sentenced to 13 to 33 years in prison, and had already served three years before the reversal.

The second time around, Wood admitted to commissioning Brian Bardin and Justin Anderson, both 15 at the time, to go into Lisa Wood's house with knives and cut her throat. Bardin cut Lisa and she awoke with a long gash in her neck and chin. The cut required almost 200 stitches to close.

Wood could have been released with time served after pleading guilty to a charge of battery with the intent to commit murder, punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison, but Griffin chose to pursue the maximum.

"This is one of the most frightening, inexplicable acts I've ever heard," he said.

Lisa Wood chose not to testify at the sentencing, saying that it would be emotionally difficult.

"This is not something he did in a drunken rage," she said. "He planned this out.

"If I could have said one thing to him it would have been 'Rot in hell.'"

A telephone recording of Bardin talking to one of the case detectives depicted Wood as cold-hearted and manipulative.

"It's not what he offered at the time, it's what he'd been giving us all along," Bardin said, referring to drugs, alcohol and firearms Wood had supplied to the two 15-year-olds. "I should have known better, but I didn't have a clear head at the time."

Bardin served two years in a Nevada prison before his release and subsequent relocation to Louisiana. Anderson was given a probationary sentence after agreeing to testify in the case.

Deputy District Attorney Anne Langer, arguing for the maximum sentence, said Wood took advantage of the immaturity of the boys, pointing out that they had played video games before the incident.

"He molded, he whittled, he influenced," she said. "Allen Wood influenced these kids to the point where they would kill Lisa Wood."

Lisa Wood said when she awoke with blood pouring from her throat, she was in a state of shock. She said she saw what had happened to her in the bathroom mirror, came out to the kitchen and spent the next few minutes talking the boys out of finishing the job.

"It was the scariest 15 minutes of my life," she said.

Wood read a statement to the court professing regret, and promising that since his incarceration he has put himself on the road to reform.

"When an alcoholic like myself drinks, all good intentions dissolve," he said. "Drugs and alcohol altered my reality and destroyed my life."

In prison, "I chose to do good," he added. "It's not easy for anyone to do good in that type of environment."

Wood pointed to involvement in Alcoholics Anonymous, Bible studies and counseling as a turning point in his behavior.

But Lisa Wood expressed skepticism about her former husband's comments.

"The man has got a disease and it's not going to be cured with three, or five or eight years in prison," she said. "I'm going to fight like hell to keep him in."

Wood was also ordered to pay $750 restitution to Lisa Wood, a request she made in a letter to Griffin.

Lisa Wood and Kim Courtney, Wood's wife prior to Lisa, also hope that an unrelated investigation of alleged child molestation brings more charges against Allen as he sits in prison.

While living in Santa Cruz, Wood's son was removed from his custody for "a history of sexual molestation that puts him at risk for further abuse," according to court documents from the Santa Cruz Superior Court. "It is felt by the treatment personnel he (Wood) continues to need treatment before the minor can be returned to his care."