"Supreme Court Denies Review in Texas Case Involving Judge's Affair With DA," is Tony Mauro's report for the National Law Journal.
Without comment, the Supreme Court on Monday denied review in the case of Texas death row inmate Charles Dean Hood, whose trial judge Verla Sue Holland was in a romantic relationship with county district attorney Tom O'Connell, who was prosecuting him.
The case drew worldwide attention, and his Supreme Court appeal was joined by former FBI director and judge William Sessions, former judges including Patricia Wald and John Gibbons, and ethicists and prosecutors nationwide, in amicus briefs filed by Arnold & Porter's Lisa Blatt and Andrew Pincus of Mayer Brown.
Hood has been on death row since 1990 when he was convicted in a double murder. The judge and the prosecutor had an affair before the trial. Repeated requests at the state level for a new trial have failed, but in February, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered a new sentencing hearing on grounds relating to the jury instruction in his case, not the affair.
Last month, former Texas governor Mark White, a death penalty supporter who nonetheless joined a brief on Hood's behalf, wrote a column in The National Law Journal urging high court review.
"The trial judge and the prosecuting attorney's affair breaches every standard of fairness that you would expect a defendant to receive during a capital case or, for that matter, a noncapital case," wrote White. "Hood could not have gotten a fair trial under these circumstances. His trial was infected with an incurable conflict of interest. The judge and the prosecutor kept the affair secret for their own personal reasons, but they also concealed it from the people who were entitled to the information. If Hood's counsel had known about or had proof of the affair at the time of trial, he could have moved the judge to recuse herself."
Today's Austin American-Statesman has, "Supreme Court turns down appeal of Texas inmate tried in court of amorous judge, prosecutor," by Chuck Lindell.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday from Charles Dean Hood, a Texas death row inmate who complained that he was denied a fair trial because his trial judge and prosecutor had engaged in a secret years-long affair.
Announced without comment from the court, the rejection appears to put the issue of the amorous judge and prosecutor to rest for future Hood appeals, though defense lawyers said they were evaluating additional litigation options.
"No one should be prosecuted for a parking ticket, let alone for capital murder, by the district attorney who has had a sexual affair with the judge handling the case," said Andrea Keilen, director of the Texas Defender Service, which represents Hood. "We will continue to zealously represent Mr. Hood, as we believe his case was marred by a fundamental injustice."
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected that argument in September, ruling 6-3 that Hood's lawyers waited too long to raise the issue on appeal — despite defense claims that the affair was impossible to confirm until 2008, when a court ordered the now-retired judge and prosecutor to answer questions under oath.
In February, however, the Texas court threw out Hood's death sentence on an unrelated issue — flawed jury instructions — while keeping intact his conviction in the 1989 shooting deaths of two people in Plano.
And:
Hood's case prompted 30 top legal ethicists and 21 former judges and prosecutors from across the country to file briefs urging the Supreme Court to grant a new trial because the affair undermined public trust in the law, violated the "bedrock principle" that judges must avoid conflicts of interest and tainted the results of Hood's legal proceedings.
Diane Jennings writes, "Supreme Court rejects appeal in Charles Dean Hood's murder case," for the Dallas Morning News.
Hood has received several stays of execution as his lawyers sought to raise objections about a romantic relationship between Judge Verla Sue Holland, who presided over the trial, and Tom O'Connell, then the Collin County district attorney. Holland and O'Connell eventually acknowledged a sexual relationship that they said took place before the trial and a lasting friendship afterward.
Despite that, Hood has not gained a new trial in state court, so his attorneys petitioned the Supreme Court in February to hear the case. That petition was signed by several legal ethicists and prominent attorneys, including former FBI Director William Sessions and former Texas Gov. Mark White.
The AP report is, "U.S. Supreme Court declines 5 Texas Death Row appeals," by Michael Graczyk, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected appeals from five Texas Death Row inmates, including Charles Dean Hood, who was condemned even though his Collin County trial judge and the prosecutor were having an affair.
The justices did not comment in turning down Hood's appeal.
And:
In a second case Monday, the high court rejected an appeal from Delma Banks, 51, who has been on Death Row for nearly three decades. The court left in place his conviction for the shooting death of 16-year-old Wayne Whitehead at a park near Texarkana in April 1980.
Like Hood, Banks still is entitled to a new punishment trial. The high court threw out his death sentence in 2004, agreeing with his attorneys that Texas authorities withheld information that a witness testifying at his punishment trial was a paid police informant.
James Elliott, an assistant district attorney in Bowie County, said Monday that he was waiting for a federal judge's instructions on when he can schedule a new punishment hearing.
"High court rejects death row appeals from Texas," is the title of Bill Mears' CNN post.
In the separate appeal, the high court refused to intervene on behalf of one of the nation's longest serving death row inmates. Delma Banks was convicted of the murder 30-years ago this week of 16-year-old Richard Whitehead in eastern Texas. Banks' original 2003 execution date was postponed over allegations of prosecutorial misconduct at his trial. Various courts have since allowed the execution to go forward.
Banks' attorneys claim faulty eyewitness testimony and the exclusion of blacks on the all-white jury prevented him from receiving a fair trial. Banks is African-American, his victim was white. The case is Banks v. Thaler (09-717).
The justices also put off a decision on another high-profile capital case from Texas, which executes more prisoners per year than any other state.
Henry "Hank" Skinner has made an actual innocence claim, demanding DNA testing on other evidence gathered at the crime scene. The justices had issued a stay just before his scheduled March 24 execution, to consider whether capital inmates have a basic right to have forensic evidence reviewed.
Bloomberg reports, "Judge-Prosecutor Affair Case Rebuffed by High Court," by Greg Stohr, via Business Week.
"US death sentence upheld despite judge-prosecutor affair," is the AFP post, via Google News.
Earlier coverage begins with the preceding post; all coverage, available through the Charles Dean Hood index.
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