Prosecutor and Judge in Capital Case Admitted Affair, Lawyers Say

Updated: A judge who oversaw the death penalty trial of Charles Dean Hood and the prosecutor in the case have admitted an affair, lawyers told the governor of Texas in a letter.

The now-retired judge, Verla Sue Holland, and the onetime prosecutor, Thomas O’Connell, “admitted under oath that they had an intimate sexual relationship for many years,” the letter says. The pair were ordered to testify in depositions by a Texas judge on Monday.

“Judge Holland and Mr. O’Connell confirmed that they kept the relationship secret,” says the letter to Gov. Rick Perry. “She never disclosed it to a single litigant or lawyer who appeared before her, and she never recused herself from hearing a single case because of her affair with the elected district attorney. Similarly, Mr. O’Connell never disclosed the romantic relationship to any of his adversaries nor did he recuse himself or his office from prosecuting a single case because of his affair with Judge Holland.”

While the pair differed over the timing of the sexual component of their relationship, there is no doubt it was sexual in the years leading up to Holland’s jurisdiction in the case, the letter says. It calls the failure to disclose the affair “a shocking and devastating indictment of the Texas criminal justice system.”

The clerk for Collin County, where Holland was a judge, told the New York Times it was impossible to determine how many cases O’Connell had prosecuted before Holland. Collin County Assistant District Attorney John Rolater told the Dallas Morning News that “it’s fairly clear that this was over well before trial” and said his office would continue to defend the judgment and sentence in the case.

However, regardless of when the affair ended, it is cause for concern—as is the failure of Holland and O'Connell to confirm in June that it occurred, even as Hood was about to be executed, Lawrence Fox tells the Chicago Tribune. A partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath in Philadelphia, he is also an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

"They must have handled many cases. And every one of them will be subject to a new trial," Fox tells the newspaper. "Any objective observer would say, 'Oh my God, you can't have that relationship going on.' "

Hood had been scheduled to be executed today. He received a stay of execution yesterday from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, not because of the affair allegations but because of an appeal raising questions about the jury instructions at trial, ABAJournal.com noted yesterday. The letter to the governor had sought a reprieve because of the alleged affair.

Updated at 11:45 a.m. to include information from the Chicago Tribune.