The Collin County Observer

Charles Dean Hood

Judge Verla Sue Holland

Tom O'Connell

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in a sharply split decision remanded the death sentence of convicted Collin County murderer Charles Dean Hood for a new punishment hearing.

The remand is based on a 2005 motion by the defense complaining of "Penry" instructions given to the jury. The defense argued that the jury was not given the proper instruction on how to consider mitigating circumstances of childhood injury and mental incapacity.

The court noted that since Hood's conviction in 1990, the US Supreme Court has substantially changed and enhanced the requirements of what death penalty juries must consider before giving the death sentence.

Scott at the Grits for Breakfast blog offers his perspective on the opinion, writing:

"Though it doesn't mention at all the now-admitted affair between the trial judge and prosecutor in Hood's case, this is a major decision which basically amounts to a mea culpa by the CCA majority about its past rulings in an array of similar cases. From Judge Cochran's majority opinion:

'This is all very awkward. To grant a Texas death-row inmate relief on his subsequent Penry I and Penry II claim under the recently decided Tennard, Smith, et al. cases, we must find that those decisions announced new law, but the federal courts cannot grant relief on those very same claims unless they find that Texas courts misapplied clearly established law at the time of the relevant state-court decision. Hence, a death-row inmate must argue in this Court that Tennard, Smith, et al. announced new law, but, once he arrives in federal court, he must argue that those same cases simply reiterated clearly established law. There is no logical way in which Tennard, Smith, et al. can simultaneously be both "newly available law" for state-court purposes and "clearly established law" for federal-court purposes.'

'This conundrum has produced starkly different descriptions and versions of the historical development of Penry law. In each of the five most recent cases, the United States Supreme Court majority has been at pains to emphasize that "well before our decision in Penry I, our cases had firmly established that sentencing juries must be able to give meaningful consideration and effect to all mitigating evidence that might provide a basis for refusing to impose the death penalty[.]" Thus, Penry itself did not announce new law, nor did the five most recent cases, Tennard, Smith I, Abdul-Kabir, Brewer, and Smith II. Under the majority's reasoning, this Court (along with the Fifth Circuit) completely misunderstood the scope and applicability of Penry for almost twenty years and reached "'decision[s] that [were] contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States'" in virtually all of our Penry cases. Had the Supreme Court concluded otherwise, it could not have granted relief to any of the habeas corpus applicants in Tennard, Smith I, Abdul-Kabir, Brewer, or Smith II.'

"Judge Keasler's dissent sounded downright furious at this 180 degree reversal in course."

Hood was convicted in a Collin County court in 1990 of the double homicide of Ronald Williamson and Tracie Lynn Wallace. Hood was working as a bouncer at a topless club in 1989 where Tracie Lynn Wallace was a dancer. He met Ronald Williamson at the club and began doing odd jobs for Williamson, who owned a computer software firm and he was living at Williamson's Plano home.

Hood's defense attorneys have tried to gain a new trial for him based on allegations that the judge, Verla Sue Holland had kept secret from defense attorneys her sexual relationship to the county's District Attorney, Tom O'Connell. O'Connell personally tried part of the case and appeared in court against Hood.

The Court of Criminal Appeals did not address the Holland/O'Connell issue in its opinion.

Recently, 21 jurists and legal experts petitioned The United States Supreme Court to take up the issue of the fairness of the 1990 trial given the relationship between the prosecutor and judge.

Hood has faced at least 7 execution dates. Twice in 2008 he came within hours of being executed.

Bill

UPDATE 3PM 2/24/10

John Roach, the Collin County Criminal District Attorney released the following statement:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 24, 2010

(McKINNEY, Texas) -- Today the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a new punishment trial to death row inmate Charles Dean Hood.

Hood was convicted of the 1990 capital murder of Ronald Williamson and Traci Wallace. Today’s ruling does not raise any issue as to Hood’s guilt of this heinous crime, and the courts have previously described the evidence of his guilt as “conclusive.”

Today’s ruling is based on a defect in the Texas capital punishment statute identified by the Supreme Court in 1989 and corrected by the Texas Legislature in 1991. Hood’s trial was between these two events, and the trial judge, as was common practice at that time, tried to remedy the defect with an instruction to the jury. In 2001, the Supreme Court cast doubt on the jury instruction practice used in Hood’s case. In 2005, Hood challenged the instruction used in his case just prior to a scheduled execution. The Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed his challenge in early 2007, ruling that he was required to raise the claim in an earlier challenge to his conviction and sentence. Today, the Court reconsidered its 2007 decision, determined that Hood was not required to raise the claim in an earlier challenge, and awarded him a new punishment trial.

Our office will continue to evaluate today’s opinion. We will also begin evaluating the case to determine what punishment to seek in a new punishment trial. As we currently understand the case, however, it is likely we will again seek the death penalty.

A separate claim challenging Hood’s conviction is currently pending in the Supreme Court. The State’s response in that litigation is due next month, and we have no comment on that litigation at this time.

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NOTES:

EX PARTE CHARLES DEAN HOOD, Majority Opinion of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge Cathy Cochran, February 24, 2010

EX PARTE CHARLES DEAN HOOD, Dissenting Opinion of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge Michael E. Keasler, February 24, 2010

Charles Hood death sentence thrown out: Texas CCA admits it
'completely misunderstood' SCOTUS for past 20 years, Grits for Breakfast, February 24, 2010

New punishment hearing ordered for Texas death row inmate Charles Dean Hood, The Dallas Morning News, February 24, 2010

Questions Of an Affair Tainting A Trial, The New York Times, February 19, 2010

BRIEF OF FORMER JUDGES, STATE OFFICIALS, AND PROSECUTORS AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER

NLJ - When procedure trumps justice, CCO, Nov. 3, 2009

Sex, lies and lethal injections, CCO, Sept. 18, 2009

Hood gets his appeal (maybe), CCO, May 5, 2009

Charles Dean Hood gets another 60 days to live, CCO, Jan. 28, 2009

AG questions 1/3 of Collin death sentences, CCO, Sept. 22, 2008

Collin County needs to review capital cases, CCO, Sept. 18, 2008

Crossing the line: Sex and justice, Collin County style, CCO, Sept. 8, 2008

Atlantic Monthly - Travesty in Texas, CCO, Sept. 8, 2008

Attorney General files for possible stay in Hood case, CCO, Sept. 4, 2008

From an Arts of Collin County press release -

GROUNDBREAKING IN SIGHT FOR ARTS OF COLLIN COUNTY WITH CITY OF ALLEN SUPPORT

COLLIN COUNTY, TEXAS – (FEBRUARY 24, 2010) – The Arts of Collin County and its Owner cities are working diligently to toward the ground breaking of Phase I. During the City of Allen City Council meeting on February 23, 2010, the Council voted to proceed as the guarantor of a line of credit from a financial institution to support the gap in fundraising related to pledges not to exceed $5M. In any 501(c-3) organization’s capital campaign project, like building a new church, pledges are a large part of individual and corporate donations. Pledges allow donors to pay out their gifts over a period of years or utilize planned giving vehicles such as life insurance policies, estate trusts and other resources. The Arts of Collin County has received a total of $10.4M in private donations. Of the $10.4M in private donations, pledges yet to be received are $8.1M. Of the pledges, 82% is in pledges from businesses which we are confident will be paid out over the construction period.

“All three owner cities in the Arts for Collin County - Allen, Frisco and Plano, have worked together during the past several years to craft a project that will have a significant economic impact to our region and serve as a cultural icon that will benefit generations to come. With the Allen City Council’s approval to guarantee a bridge loan, we are closer than ever to getting the shovels in the ground,” states Mayor Stephen Terrell, City of Allen. “The City of Allen is making this step forward because ACC will have an Allen address. Land donation and infrastructure development for the project have occurred and fundraising efforts to date have been successful. It’s time to make the project a reality,” continues Terrell.

“The guarantee by the City of Allen, allows the Arts of Collin County to move forward with the process of awarding the guaranteed maximum price contract to the Hunt Construction Group,” states Mike Simpson, executive director of the Arts of Collin County. “The next step is to finalize the contribution agreements between the Owner cities of Allen, Frisco and Plano; gain approval of each Owner cities council along with our Board of Directors and then the award the guaranteed maximum price contract which will allow us to announce a date for groundbreaking in early 2010,” continues Simpson.

The initial guaranteed maximum price for construction of Phase I has been estimated at $69.9M by Hunt Construction Group which is a cost reduction of $16M from the estimated costs of $86M in March 2009. The final maximum price will be presented by Hunt on February 26th which may result in additional savings.

As a public/private partnership, it is required that 100% of funds are committed in order to move forward on construction.

To date the following funds can be applied towards Phase I construction: $19M from each Owner city: Allen, Frisco and Plano; $850K from Collin County and $2.3M in private donations which have been received. (The remainder of private funding is in the form of pledges which will be paid out over time.). The land which has been donated by Briar Ridge Investments was not included in the original cost estimates and at the time of the donation in 2005 had a market value of $22M, which is the largest donation ever received in Collin County.

“The Allen City Council’s directive has been very clear to proceed with a funding mechanism that would facilitate construction for the Arts of Collin County. In order to take advantage of lower construction costs which represent a cost savings of about $16 million, the time to act was immediate,” states Peter Vargas, Allen City Manager.

The Arts of Collin County will continue to fundraise to complete the gap and plan for the future phases of development and operations. The Phase I construction process will span across two and a half years, and fundraising and programming events will continue as the performance arts hall and arts park are brought to life. The most prominent opportunities to meet these goals is a naming rights partner for the 100+ acre arts park, performance arts hall which and the theater itself, plus many other valuable sponsorship components.

Pervasiveness, prosecution of white-collar crime rising
State securities board sees activity increase fivefold since 2005

Dallas Business Journal - by Chad Eric Watt Staff writer
Friday, February 19, 2010

The retired couple living in Murphy really didn’t have any need for a credit card terminal.

But after a salesman explained how they could buy the machine and lease it back to merchants in exchange for interest payments, they signed up.

Bruce and Barbara Ellsworth invested $125,000 in order to get back $1,000 a month for five years in addition to the return of their original investment.

The payments came for a year, maybe 13 months, and stopped.

“For a while, we got interest, and then it just quit,” Barbara Ellsworth said. “We called the man that sold it to us, and he told us they were having trouble. He was as surprised as we were.”

The Ellsworths were some of the 140 Texans who bought into what prosecutors describe as a $15 million Ponzi scheme run by Edward S. Digges Jr., a disbarred lawyer and convicted felon from Maryland who had been sanctioned by securities boards in several Atlantic states.

Digges was convicted by a Collin County jury on Feb. 10 and in sentencing hearings at presstime. Prosecutors were seeking a life sentence for Digges, 63. Attempts to reach Digges were unsuccessful.

Securities fraud has been perpetrated more and uncovered more frequently since the start of the financial crisis for a confluence of reasons, said Joe Rotunda, enforcement director at the Texas State Securities Board. The state securities board counted five times more criminal, civil and administrative actions tied to securities misdoings in 2009 as it did in 2005, up to 2,318 from 449.

‘A horrible, ripe environment’

As the economy soured, operating schemes suddenly couldn’t find new investors to pay off older investors. This is why headline-grabbing swindles, including Bernard Madoff’s bogus hedge fund and the Stanford Financial Group’s too-good-to-be-true Antiguan CDs, fell apart in the wake of the September 2008 financial crisis.

Economist John Kenneth Galbraith, writing about the 1929 stock market crash, described such schemes that grew in good economic times as “the bezzle,” which only come to light in the wake of a crash or downturn. As investors sought better and safer returns than they could find in bank deposits, stocks and bonds, they also became easy marks for new “guaranteed return” schemes.

The credit card terminal scheme for which Digges was convicted preys upon investors’ desire for safety and big returns.

“This created a fertile environment for people to steal things — a horrible, ripe environment,” Rotunda said.

Digges lived in Cambridge, Md., but more than a third of all the money taken from investors came from Texas, Rotunda said. That’s because Digges used a network of insurance agents to market the program to senior citizens in Texas.

Did the agents know they were selling a bogus investment pitched by a felon?

“Depends on who you ask,” Rotunda said. “You attract people with really high commissions. When the price is high, they don’t ask questions they should.”

One San Antonio salesman has been convicted, and others have entered guilty pleas, Rotunda said.

Collin County prosecutions

In response to a rich environment for fraud, the Texas State Securities Board has crafted a partnership with the Collin County District Attorney’s Office to investigate and prosecute large fraud cases, including Digges’ case.

In spite of an initial Securities and Exchange Commission complaint filed in Florida in February 2006 and a receivership for the alleged Ponzi scheme, Digges hadn’t been brought up on federal criminal charges, so the securities board and Collin County DA stepped in.

“Witnesses started to die. There was a big question whether these investors would see justice,” Rotunda said.

Of the $15 million placed with the Digges’ scheme, the receivership returned just more than $1 million to all its investors.

The Digges conviction comes six months after the securities board and Collin County won a big fraud conviction tied to oil and gas investments.

Last May, a Collin County jury convicted William Lester Seelye of McKinney? and sentenced him to 99 years in prison for stealing from oil and gas investment projects, laundering money and committing securities fraud. Seelye allegedly took more than $400,000 from investors.

link to this story at The Dallas Business Journal....

Editorial: Transit innovation


The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board
Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Expanding the reach of rail transit in North Texas will take progress big and small on multiple fronts. Here are a couple of areas where things are quietly heading the right way:

In Austin – House Speaker Joe Straus officially invited ideas on new ways of paying for transportation projects. The speaker announced special committees last week to study needs and report to him on, among other things, "using alternative funding options at the state and local levels."

That was the right move. A bill to permit local-option elections on transportation funding crashed and burned spectacularly in the House last year. Straus' leadership team now must sort through possibilities for solving the inarguable problem of urban traffic congestion.

Traffic planners maintain that expanded rail transit is a must, and this newspaper agrees. Last year's local-option bill would have given voters a say on paying for new transit projects as well as badly needed urban roadways.

Lawmakers in both parties are also making a strong case for raising the motor-fuels tax for the first time since 1991, but any such revenue could go only to roads, not rail, under current law.

That's where the special House committees come in. The speaker's proclamation last week also used the words "innovative approaches," and it couldn't have been said better. Innovation in solving traffic congestion is what transportation leaders in North Texas have been pushing for. It's good to see Straus expressing interest in more of that.

In North Texas – A coalition of cities and transportation agencies has stepped up efforts to develop the long-proposed east-west Cotton Belt rail link to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. It would connect northern suburbs and North Dallas to the airport and run through downtown Fort Worth. DART owns the Cotton Belt right of way but doesn't have the money to put the project together.

Again, innovation is called for. The North Central Texas Council of Governments is finishing a report on ways the six cities on the east side of the airport can team up with property owners and DART to start the new line.

For example, developers might be interested in sharing construction costs if passenger stations were located on their land. The University of Texas at Dallas might want to hire a developer to build a station and amenities on campus.

One audacious idea under discussion is encouraging a manufacturer to locate along the Cotton Belt and produce the next generation of diesel rail cars, which are in demand nationwide for new transit lines.

Ultimately, voter-approved money may be needed to put this project over the top. But since nothing is guaranteed out of Austin, North Texas leaders are smart to look for creative ways to achieve the goal of a seamless regional rail network.

link to this editorial at The Dallas Morning News....

Keith Self attacks the tactics of ... Keith Self

Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010
Michael Landauer/Editor
The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog

Embattled Collin County Judge Keith Self issued an e-mail to supporters in response to allegations from the John Muns campaign. Here's what he said:

"Are these gutter attacks the "Collin County values" that my opponent says that he will bring to the county? No thank you. These are the same attacks that the same consulting firm made against Commissioner Joe Jaynes two years ago. I want to hear from John Muns - are you hiding behind an out-of-control consulting company or are these gutter attacks your values? I want to know."

They don't call this the political funny season for nothing. Keith Self endorsed the campaign against Jaynes in 2008. He never spoke out against the tactics in that campaign. He is now throwing an old friend, Corbett Howard, under the bus to score political points.

And here's the best part. "Are these gutter attacks your values?" According to the consulting firm in question, they are Keith Self's values. As a campaign adviser, he directed and suggested the very attacks he is now attacking. This from Brian Mayes at Allyn Media:

We talked to Mr. Self on a regular basis during the 2008 campaign, and of all Corbett's supporters and advisors, his strategic direction was by far the most aggressive.

I asked Mr. Self if he'd like to respond, and here's what he said:

"No, I have no intention of engaging in a public debate through the media that endorsed my opponent. It is no secret that I supported my friend Corb Howard."

We did recommend John Muns. I stand by these words more than ever:

It's not what first-term Self is for that causes concern about his time in office. Rather, it's what he's been against and how he pursues his agenda. Self doesn't shy away from butting heads with people he disagrees with and, at times, seems to go out of his way for a collision. ... With GOP voters choosing between two fiscally conservative Republicans, they should go with Muns, a leader with experience building coalitions.

Read this article at The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog....

Texas House race starting to get ugly in Plano

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
By THEODORE KIM / The Dallas Morning News

Politically genteel Plano is witnessing a testier brand of politics this year.

The GOP campaign to represent West Plano in the Texas House of Representatives is emerging as one of the city's most cantankerous races in years. Candidates are trading barbs over everything from resume discrepancies to charges of tax evasion.

The first volley came Friday, when Mabrie Jackson sent out a mailer and put up a Web site entitled "Plano Resume Fraud." The mailer and site accused opponents Wayne Richard and Van Taylor of misrepresenting their records and other transgressions.

"Don't be tricked by resume fraud in the Plano State Representative Race," Jackson's Web site reads. The mailer blames Richard and Taylor for having "falsified their backgrounds to win votes" for the March 2 primary.

Richard and Taylor have fired back, accusing Jackson of spreading falsehoods and poisoning the political atmosphere.

Taylor charged Jackson, a former City Council member, of publishing "one of the most negative mail pieces in Collin County history." Richard characterized Jackson's allegations as "malicious and hateful."

Unusual

Such heated rhetoric is unusual in Plano, which has long revolved around a stable of powerful incumbents and has rarely played host to knockdown campaigns.

But the stakes are high. The prize is the Texas House seat representing District 66, which has not been open since 1991. Incumbent Republican Brian McCall? is not seeking re-election.

The turbulent campaign also reflects a deepening battle to court conservative primary voters as all three candidates tilt to the right.

On her Web site and mailings, Jackson accuses Richard of "cheating on his business taxes," hosting a "voyeurism video" Web site and receiving campaign help from "extremists."

She also charged Taylor with being a "political carpetbagger" who is "searching for a political office to run for" (Taylor ran unsuccessfully for Congress in the Waco area in 2006) and of bankrolling his entire campaign.

Jackson declined to comment about the Web site or mailing, which feature her photo and campaign logo. Her spokesman Judd Pritchard called the materials a "comparison between candidates."

"All this stuff is legitimate candidate resume material," he said.

Richard said the accusations are "inaccurate, untruthful, hateful and inappropriate."

Regarding the charge that he has cheated on his business taxes, Richard, who owns a small Web company, said the accusation is false and proof of what he called Jackson's "lack of expertise in business and how she would address legislative issues as a representative."

Richard also responded to questions about his political ties. One of his top campaign aides, Peter Morrison of Lumberton, Texas, keeps a Facebook page on which Morrison has blamed the "Third World" for the Fort Hood shootings and criticized Texas schools for advocating diversity.

"I'm happy to have their support," Richard said of his aides.

More response

Taylor, meantime, said Jackson's "attacks are negative and false." He did not dispute any of her claims when asked specifically about each of them. But he said he had been up front about his record.

"She is attempting to mislead voters that I'm trying to hide something," Taylor said.

Fundraising, like the rhetoric, has picked up in recent weeks.

Taylor, who works in real estate, has loaned his campaign $420,000, including nearly $200,000 since late January. He raised $41,000 from other sources during that period.

He gave more than $1 million in contributions and loans to his 2006 bid for Congress, federal records show.

Jackson has raised $64,000 in recent weeks, according to records. That includes more than $20,000 in cash from political action committees representing interests ranging from natural gas and liquor to finance.

She has more than $110,000 on hand.

Richard reported $47,000 in contributions, though that figure includes more than $37,000 in noncash campaign services.

He has spent $12,000 since late January and reported having no money left in his campaign account.

No Democrats are running for the seat.

read article at The Dallas Morning News....

Some early voters report problems in Collin County

by STEVE STOLER / WFAA-TV

Posted on February 23, 2010 at 9:11 PM
Updated today at 10:31 PM

Several Collin County voters are complaining about their early voting experiences. They say election workers just couldn't believe they wanted to vote Republican.

All of them are minorities, and they believe race is the reason they were questioned.

Three of the voters who had problems at a McKinney polling place have something in common: All are women; all are black; and all say they were questioned when they wanted to vote Republican.

Connie Evans explained what happened when she went to her polling place. “Before she gave me the card, she said, 'Now you're voting what?' 'I'm voting Republican.' And then after she gave me the card, she asked me again what I was voting, and I said, 'I'm voting Republican.'"

Tiffany Loera and Brittany Evans say they were asked the same question several times.

“It’s very offensive, because it's almost like we don't know what we're talking about," Loera said. "Why ask more than once?"

Four African-American candidates are running on the Republican ballot, the most ever in Collin County. Historically, African-Americans vote Democratic in the county.

The women believe that's why they were questioned.

“Most black people were supposed to vote Democrat, but we can change our mind just like anybody else," Evans said.

In response, Collin County Elections Administrator Sharon Rowe sent a message to all county poll workers, telling them to ask every single voter if they are voting in the Democratic or Republican primary, or allow the voter to declare their party affiliation. She warned them to never assume a party affiliation for any voter.

Connie Evans says reaction she received has upset her. “If I’m coming in and I say I'm voting Republican, that's what I'm voting; I don't need to be asked three times," she said.

The problem isn't’ limited to African-American voters at just one polling place.

Long-time Republican voter Fred Nasseri's had difficulty inside the voting booth.

“As soon as I put the card in, it says 'Democratic.' I was really upset, and I let them know this is a concern," Nasseri said.

The elections administrator wants to talk with all the voters who had problems at the polls, so she can address each issue to make sure it won't happen again.

read article and watch vidoe report at WFAA.com....