Mike on Crime

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) — A judge on Thursday moved a hearing date for a condemned inmate so that it’s no longer scheduled for after his execution. The change gives Charles Dean Hood’s lawyers a chance to argue while he’s still alive that his conviction was unfair because the judge was allegedly having an affair with a prosecutor.

State District Judge Greg Brewer moved the hearing date for Hood to Monday, two days before Hood is set to die for the 1989 slaying of a couple in Plano, near Dallas.

The decision reverses a that of another judge, Robert Dry, who had set a similar hearing for September 12, two days after Hood’s execution date.

The hearing will address arguments that Hood’s murder trial was unfair because of an alleged romantic relationship between the judge presiding over the trial, Verla Sue Holland, and former Collin County District Attorney Tom O’Connell.

Brewer ordered Holland, now retired, and O’Connell, now in private practice, to be ready to be interviewed by lawyers Monday — if Brewer agrees at Monday’s hearing that the pair should be deposed. Neither has commented on the allegations that they were romantically involved.

Later Thursday, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said his office, although it does not have jurisdiction in the matter at the local court level, would be filing a friend of the court brief with Brewer seeking a review of the allegations of a romantic link between Holland and O’Connell.

“Because of the unique nature of the issues in this matter — and to protect the integrity of the Texas legal system — we will ask the court to thoroughly review this matter,” Abbott said.

He said the facts of the case were not in question, that Hood’s appeals never claimed he was innocent and “there appears to be little doubt that Hood deserves the sentence he was given.”

Greg Wiercioch, one of Hood’s lawyers, called the attorney general’s actions “highly, highly unusual,” but said there was no guarantee they would result in the execution being delayed.

“We may still need help from the governor,” he said.

Wiercioch has asked Gov. Rick Perry to issue a 30-day reprieve, which the governor is empowered to do once.

Judge Dry wrote to the defense last month that he was treating the request as part of a civil case that could be pursued after Hood was dead. “In reality, you are exploring a civil lawsuit for the estate of Mr. Hood,” he wrote.

But the defense said the hearing should be held before Hood’s execution, because evidence gathered from taking the depositions of Holland and O’Connell “may serve as the basis for a reprieve request to the governor of Texas.”

On Wednesday, Dry took himself off the case, citing a “previous business relationship” with Holland’s ex-husband as the reason.

Hood, 39, was scheduled to die June 17 but his lethal injection, which had cleared numerous lengthy appeals, was aborted by state prison officials after they ran out of time to carry out the execution by midnight.

The former topless-club bouncer was convicted of killing Tracie Lynn Wallace, 26, an ex-dancer at the club, and her boyfriend, Ronald Williamson, 46, at Williamson’s home.

Hood was driving Williamson’s Cadillac at the time of his arrest, and fingerprint evidence tied him to the murder scene. But he said he was living at Williamson’s home and had permission to drive the car.