Death Becomes Her: Texas Judge Accused of Affair with Prosecutor in Capital Punishinment Case

This is what Texas Gov. Rick Perry seems to view a close call. He has said that he is still mulling over whether the stay an execution of Charles Dean Hood for 30 days after it was disclosed the his judge, former District Judge Verla Sue Holland, and his prosecutor, former Collin County District Attorney Tom O’Connell, at trial had an affair — and a hearing on the issue is currently scheduled for after his execution. Despite the compelling evidence of ménage à trial, the issue appears to still be undecided despite requests from twenty-two former federal and state judges and prosecutors calling for the stay.

State District Judge Robert Dry of Collin County has set a hearing for Sept. 12th — the only problem is that Judge Dry has agreed to hear the issue two days after Hood will be executed. Now, to make things even more bizarre, Dry has recused himself due to a conflict with former Judge Holland’s ex-husband, Earl Holland.

They appear now to be running low on judges in Collin County without a personal or professional conflict. At least seven of the nine judges served with Holland, here.

The Texas Constitution states that the “judiciary must be extremely diligent in avoiding any appearance of impropriety and must hold itself to exacting standards lest it lose its legitimacy and suffer a loss of public confidence.” Sleeping with the prosecutor in a death case might be viewed by some as an appearance of impropriety.

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