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Charles Hood's execution stayed: Judge accused of tryst with death penalty prosecutor recuses herself at 11th hour

A former Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge whose old CCA colleagues yesterday found procedural cause not to delve into her extra-judicial antics (Judge Verla Sue Holland was accused of carrying on a tryst with the prosecutor in a death penalty case when she was a trial judge) finally did the right thing today about an hour before Charles Hood's scheduled execution and recused herself, delaying the execution indefinitely at the last minute.Whether or not Hood his guilty (and from all accounts of the evidence and the now-possibly tainted jury verdict, he likely is), that kind of gross judicial and prosecutorial misconduct cannot be tolerated in any legal venue, much less in death penalty proceedings. For my money if the allegations of the secret relationship turn out to be true, both Judge Holland and her prosecutorial paramour, former Collin County District Attorney Tom O'Connell, should be disbarred for concealing the affair in such a grave proceeding...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on June 17, 2008 (boomark / email).