Judge deems death row inmate did not receive fair trial due to sex scandal



By Stephanie Flemmons, Staff Writer


A district judge ruled that a death row inmate did not receive a fair 
trial due to recent proof that the judge and the district attorney 
that tried the case were having a sexual affair.

In November 2008, Judge Greg Brewer of the 366th Judicial District 
Court of Collin County had been directed by the Texas Court of 
Criminal Appeals to make his recommendation whether convicted killer 
Charles Dean Hood’s claim of an unfair trial was raised in a timely 
manner.

Today, Brewer issued Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law that 
concludes that attorneys for Hood discovered proof of Judge Vera Sue 
Holland and District Attorney Tom O’Connell’s secret, sexual 
relationship in a timely fashion and that Hood’s attorney are not at 
fault for not discovering this information earlier because the 
parties kept it secret for so long.

In his recommendation to the CCA, Brewer determined Hood should be 
able to raise judicial bias claims and that the affair between the 
judge and the district attorney violated his right to a fair trial.

Brewer found that Holland and O’Connell did not abide by their 
ethical and constitutional duties during the 1990 trial and 
conviction of Hood.

According to court records, Brewer states: “Judge Holland and Mr. 
O’Connell took deliberate measures to ensure that their affair would 
remain secret,” and “Judge Holland and Mr. O’Connell did not abide by 
their ethical and constitutional duties to disclose the fundamental 
conflict caused by their relationship.”

In attempts to keep their affair secret, Brewer states “Mr. O’Connell 
misled habeas counsel during the successive state habeas proceedings 
and Judge Holland resisted counsel’s investigative efforts.”

The Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law that Brewer made will now 
be sent up to the CCA for their review, where they can either accept 
or reject Brewer’s recommendations. According to Andrea Keilen, Texas 
Defender Service executive director, the CCA will either grant a new 
trial or find they are not bound by the trial-court recommendation.

In 1990, Hood was sentenced to death for the fatal shootings of 
Tracie Lynn Wallace, 26 and her boyfriend Ronald Williamson, 46, at 
Williamson’s home in Plano in 1989.

According to a petition submitted by Hood’s attorneys in June 2005, 
prior to an earlier execution date, O’Connell actively misled the 
defense attorneys by denying that he had been in a romantic 
relationship. Holland simply refused to cooperate with the 
investigation at the time.

Hood has survived five execution dates due to separate procedural 
matters.

Contact Stephanie Flemmons at sflemmons@acnpapers.com

http://www.scntx.com/articles/2009/05/01/breaking_news/797.txt