The Collin County Observer

Affair rumors may delay execution of Plano couple's killer

Friday, June 13, 2008
Dallas Morning News / Associated Press

AUSTIN - Lawyers for a convicted killer facing execution next week have filed an appeal asking the punishment be stopped, alleging a prosecutor at his trial and the presiding judge were engaged in a secret romantic relationship that violated legal ethics.

Charles Dean Hood is set for lethal injection Tuesday for a double slaying in Plano 19 years ago. In an appeal filed Thursday with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and in the trial court in Collin County, Hood's lawyers said his conviction and death sentence should be voided.

They accused now retired Judge Verla Sue Holland of being involved "in a long-term intimate relationship with the Collin County District Attorney, Tom O'Connell, who took an active role in the courtroom prosecuting Mr. Hood."

Neither Holland nor O'Connell, now in private practice, returned telephone calls left for them by The Associated Press.

"Judge Holland was absolutely disqualified from presiding over the trial," according to the appeal filed by two California-based lawyers, A. Richard Ellis and Gregory Wiercioch. "Because the court lacked jurisdiction, the judgment of conviction and sentence against Mr. Hood is null and void."

The accusations first surfaced three years ago in a story at Salon.com, an Internet news site.

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PSC - Judge, DA relationship cast doubt on trial

By Zachary Markovic, Staff Writer / Plano Star Courier
Friday, June 13, 2008

Attorneys’ for Charles Dean Hood filed a stay of execution to the Court of Criminal Appeals for convicted murder Charles Dean Hood Thursday.

Hood is scheduled for execution on June 17. He was convicted in the 1989 shooting deaths of Ronald Williamson and Tracie Lynn Wallace in their Plano home.

The application for writ of habeas corpus states an alleged relationship between the trial judge Verla Sue Holland and Collin County District Attorney Tom O'Connell. Though there had been rumors of the relationship during the case and through other appeal processes, Hood’s attorneys were never able to show proof.

This changed, however, when Matthew Goeller, who was the assistant district attorney for Collin County at the time of the trial, sent a signed affidavit to Hood’s attorneys that said, “It was common knowledge in the District Attorney’s office… in general, that the District Attorney, Mr. Tom O’Connell, and Presiding Judge of the 296th District Court, Judge Verla Sue Holland, had a romantic relationship.”

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Also see these varied perspectives from the blogsphere:

Greg Abbot, Texas Attorney General - Media Advisory: Charles Hood Scheduled For Execution

The State of Mine, Texas Monthly Blog - Mike Hall: The Court of Criminal Appeals Must Put the Brakes on Charles Hood’s Execution

Salon.com (2005) - Ardor in the Court

UrbanGrounds - A Death Row Inmate of Good Character

Grits for Breakfast - Tales from death row: Passion and intrigue marked two capital trials

Associated Content - Interview with a Condemned Man: Charles Dean Hood