Nation's Leading Legal Ethicists: Court Must Stay Hood's Execution

Texas and National Ethics Experts Say Judge's Affair with District Attorney Makes Death Sentence Null and Void

(Austin, TX) Ten of the nation's leading experts on legal ethics filed a statement with the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas today testifying that the romantic relationship between the district attorney and the judge presiding over Charles Dean Hood's capital trial and sentence renders the proceedings "invalid per se." Mr. Hood is scheduled for execution tomorrow, unless the Court or Governor Rick Perry grants a stay. The statement was also filed as an addendum to the reprieve request with the Governor's office today.

The statement of Hofstra University Law School Professor Monroe H. Freedman was endorsed by 9 legal ethics scholars and attorneys from Texas and around the country. It states:

“An impartial judge is an essential component of the American adversary system. If a judge’s impartiality is subject to reasonable question, there is a “structural defect” in the trial, meaning that vacation of the conviction is required ….”

Freedman, a nationally-renowned expert on judicial ethics, is the author of the two seminal books on legal ethics that are required reading in the nation’s law schools, including Understanding Lawyers’ Ethics (2004). Biographical information for Prof. Freedman can be accessed here: http://law.hofstra.edu/directory/faculty/FullTimeFaculty/ftfac_mfreedman.html

The legal ethics scholars and attorneys who endorsed Prof. Freedman's opinion that Mr. Hood's sentence must be stayed, include a former chair of the ABA Ethics Committee, law professors who have authored dozens of articles and books on legal ethics, and a Texas ethicist who served on the committee that drafted the "Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct."

“Texans are fair. They will not stand for a man’s execution when the judge and the prosecutor were in a romantic relationship or there was even an appearance of bias,” said Andrea Keilen, executive director of Texas Defender Service. “The U.S. and Texas constitutions guarantee an unbiased judge, and Mr. Hood was denied that fundamental right.”

On June 3, 2008, Matthew Goeller, who was an assistant district attorney in the Collin County District Attorney’s Office from 1987 to 1996 filed an affidavit testifying that “[i]t was common knowledge” that Judge Verla Sue Holland and District Attorney Tom O’Connell “had a romantic relationship” for several years, including the time of Mr. Hood’s trial and death sentence.

More Information:

Original Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Original Petition for Writ of Prohibition & Motion to Stay Execution (PDF)

Motion for Leave to Supplement Original Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus & Motion for Stay of Execution (PDF)