INDIANAPOLIS | The Indiana Parole Board on Monday refused to recommend clemency for a man set to be executed next week in the stabbing death of his 77-year-old neighbor.

David Leon Woods, 42, was sentenced to death in March 1985 for the slaying of Juan Placencia in the northeastern Indiana town of Garrett 11 months earlier. After listening to about three hours of testimony, the Parole Board unanimously recommended to Gov. Mitch Daniels that Woods' life not be spared.

"Testimony and evidence provided concerning Mr. Woods' horrible childhood and appalling living conditions is merely an attempt to place blame where blame should not lie," board member Thor Miller said

Daniels plans to review the board's recommendation and other information on the case before making a decision on whether to allow the execution to proceed as scheduled on May 4 at the Indiana State Prison, said Jane Jankowski, the governor's spokeswoman. He can choose to accept or reject the board's recommendation.

William Van Der Pol Jr., an attorney for Woods, said he was disappointed by the board's vote.

"It seems sad that we're going to execute a fundamentally flawed and injured individual who committed a crime when he was 19 years old," Van Der Pol said

Woods' relatives, attorneys and others who knew him asked the board to recommend clemency, describing Woods' childhood as one marred by abuse, neglect and stints in foster care.

"David had absolutely zero love in his life," said Wanda Callahan, Woods' pastor on death row. "He told me time and time again that he didn't feel safe until he was on death row."

Woods attorneys also said he suffered brain disfunction and had not adequate legal representation.

Members of the Placencia family, wearing buttons with Juan Placencia's picture, said they believed Woods deserved execution.

"Nobody forced David Woods to stab my grandfather 21 times while he pleaded for help," said Glenn McDonald, who was 14 at the time of the murder.

According to testimony Monday, Woods stabbed Placencia repeatedly in the face, neck and torso after forcing his way into Placencia's home. He took $130 from Placencia's wallet and a television that he later sold for $20.

Woods told the Parole Board during a hearing Friday at the state prison in Michigan City that he went to Placencia's home to retrieve some items his mother had left at her former boyfriend's house. He said she told him no one would be home.

Woods said he had been drinking and using drugs before going to Placencia's house where he stabbed the man once in the stomach and then again when a friend told him to silence him. Woods apologized to his family and to Placencia's on Friday and told the Parole Board that he found religion while in prison.

Woods' attorneys also have asked a federal judge to delay the execution, contending that the state Department of Correction's lethal injection protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for that case on Thursday, Van Der Pol said.

Indiana governors have commuted three death sentences in the past 50 years -- all three in the past three years. Six inmates have been executed since Gov. Mitch Daniels took office in January 2005.