Hood Execution Halted; Defense Alleged Judge-Prosecutor Affair
There’s no word about what was said at depositions yesterday and today of a former prosecutor and a retired judge accused of having had an affair more than a decade ago during a convicted murderer’s trial.
However, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has called a halt to tomorrow’s scheduled execution of Charles Dean Hood, according to the Associated Press. The decision has nothing to do with the affair allegation, but concerns an appeal filed last week about jury instructions at the trial, reports the Dallas Morning News.
A state court judge’s order yesterday that the two must give depositions apparently included or was supplemented with a gag order requiring that what was said in the depositions not be publicly discussed, according to an article earlier this afternoon in the Dallas Morning News, before the appellate court ruling was announced.
This is the second time in three months that Hood’s scheduled execution has been called off within 24 hours of when it was supposed to take place. (The first time, he was already in the death chamber, and authorities simply ran out of time, amid a flurry of filings and court rulings, before a midnight deadline expired.)
Updated at 5:35 p.m. to add information from new Dallas Morning News article.
