HOUSTON — Lawyers for a Texas inmate facing execution next week filed court papers on Thursday accusing the judge at his double-murder trial of having an affair with the prosecutor.
The papers, filed in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, argue that the relationship between the judge, Verla Sue Holland, and the man who was district attorney of Collin County, Tom O’Connell, should nullify the conviction of the inmate, Charles Hood, in 1990.
The filing says that Judge Holland had a “personal and direct interest in the outcome of the case” and that “the wall of silence that has long protected Judge Holland must now come down.”
“Under these circumstances,” Gregory Wiercioch, Mr. Hood’s lead lawyer, said in an interview, “Judge Holland had a clear duty to let the parties know about her relationship and to recuse herself, because anybody knowing these facts would be shocked that she presided over this capital murder trial.”
Neither Mr. O’Connell, 66, who has practiced law in Plano after retiring as a prosecutor in 2001, nor Ms. Holland, also 66, responded to phone messages.
The petitions include an affidavit from a former assistant district attorney, Matthew Goeller, who said that the six-year relationship between Judge Holland and Mr. O’Connell was “common knowledge” and that it raised “reasonable doubt on the judge’s capacity to act impartially.”
The relationship was reported by Salon.com in 2005.
Mr. Goeller was past president of the Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Association in Collin County, near Dallas, and a former director of the Collin County Bar Association. He is currently out of the country, Mr. Hood’s other lawyers said.
The relationship between the judge and prosecutor, Mr. Hood’s lawyers said, violated his right to a fair trial under the United States and Texas Constitutions. The Texas Constitution says that the “judiciary must be extremely diligent in avoiding any appearance of impropriety and must hold itself to exacting standards lest it lose its legitimacy and suffer a loss of public confidence.”
Mr. Hood’s lawyers also filed an amendment on Thursday to a reprieve request with Gov. Rick Perry.
Judge Holland was on the Criminal Court of Appeals from 1997 to 2001, not completing her full six-year term. At least seven of the nine current judges who will decide Mr. Hood’s case served with her.
Mr. Hood was convicted in the murders in 1989 of his supervisor, Ronald Williamson, and Mr. Williamson’s girlfriend, Traci L. Wallace. They were found shot to death in Mr. Williamson’s house in Plano.
Shortly after the killings, Mr. Hood was arrested with some belongings of Mr. Williamson. He pleaded not guilty and continues to maintain his innocence.
His execution is scheduled for Tuesday.
Source: The New York Times
