Death row inmate gets new punishment hearing

Charles Dean Hood, the death row inmate whose case has drawn national attention because of a relationship between the presiding judge and prosecutor at his trial, has been granted a new punishment hearing by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

The new hearing was not ordered because of the acknowledged relationship, but because the court ruled that the jury was not given proper instructions on how to consider Hood's background when determining his punishment.

Hood's attorneys claimed that Hood didn't deserve death because he suffered from mitigating circumstances, which included learning disabilities and abuse as a child, including being beaten with a pipe, and that these things resulted in his poor "impulse control."

Hood, 40, was convicted in 1990 of murder in the shooting deaths of Ronald Williamson and Tracie Lynn Wallace at Williamson's home in Plano. Hood had lived at the house and worked for Williamson.

Julie Wallace, Wallace's sister, was resigned to the court's decision.

"We gotta do what we gotta do. I want no one to come back and say he didn't get a fair trial," Wallace said.

"It doesn't change the fact that he's guilty. There are others who have had bad upbringings or lifestyles, and they haven't murdered," she said. "This was the path that he chose, and he needs to live with his decision."

Collin County prosecutors said in a statement that they would "begin evaluating the case to determine what punishment to seek," but "it is likely we will again seek the death penalty."

The Texas Defender Service, which represents Hood, also released a statement saying the court's decision "recognized a clear flaw in the punishment phase of Mr. Hood's case."

But the statement added: "It should not distract the courts or the public from the more troubling issue at the center of this case: that the judge and prosecutor admitted under oath that they had a long-term, intimate sexual relationship prior to Mr. Hood's trial and that they intentionally kept this affair hidden for 20 years."

The romance between now-retired Judge Verla Sue Holland and then-District Attorney Tom O'Connell had been rumored for years. But proof was elusive until 2008, when Holland and O'Connell revealed in affidavits that they had a sexual relationship before the trial and a close friendship after the romance ended.

Defense attorneys have tried repeatedly to get the Court of Criminal Appeals to address the issue, but the court has declined on procedural grounds, saying Hood waited too long to raise the issue. Instead the court agreed to re-examine the question of improper jury instructions.

In December, defense attorneys filed a petition in December asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the intimate relationship between the judge and the prosecutor violated Hood's right to due process.

Last week, dozens of legal ethicists and prominent lawyers – including former Gov. Mark White and former FBI director and federal Judge Williams Sessions – asked the court to take the case.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the petition to the Supreme Court. Their response to the court is due next month.

Source: dallasnews.com, Feb. 25, 2010