Texas Appeals Court: It's OK for a prosecutor and judge to have an affair if they keep it hidden

http://deathpenaltyblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/09/texas-court-of-criminal-appeal.html

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: It's OK for a prosecutor and judge to have an affair if they keep it hidden
Michael Landauer/Editor

The ruling today in the Hood case out of Collin County is shocking, but not surprising. Not for this court.

Essentially, the court once said that if defense attorneys had proof of an affiar between the judge and the prosecutor in this death penalty trial, they had to prove it to a lower court. OK, they did that, and got a stay of execution (on technical jury issues, but with a lot of attention given to the affair, too).

Now, the defense team is back to pursue the matter with the pro-prosecutor Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and the court has a new answer: This appeal is not valid because it was not raised initially.

How could it be? The affair was hidden. Those involved lied about it for years. When rebuffed the first time, lawyers went back and cleverly filed a civil suit to get the lovers on the record about the truth, and then took that evidence into the lower court. But because this affair was hidden so well for so long, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals says it's too late.

The message is simple: If you lie about the affair long enough, there is no possible appeal on those grounds. Oh well, it's just a man's life and justice for the victim's family at stake. Sharon Keller has a reputation to uphold.

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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-hood_18edi.State.Edition1.2945cb2.html

Editorial: Ruling in Hood case degrades court system

Texas' highest criminal court's latest dismaying ruling in the scandalous Charles Dean Hood murder case can be interpreted with five words: "Anything goes in Texas justice."

The ruling somehow manages to waltz past the fact that Collin County's trial judge in the capital murder case had been cavorting in bed with the district attorney. Instead, the split decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals turned on a procedural issue in letting the death penalty verdict stand against Hood.

The clearly compromised impartiality of the trial judge, Verla Sue Holland, thus is rendered legally beside the point, in contravention of the Texas Constitution... The issue is the integrity of the Texas court system and the appeals court's interest in flushing out the stench of corrupted justice. Sadly, the court has proved itself unwilling...

A trial involving a nasty little secret between judge and prosecutor cannot produce justice. It's a stacked deck. The Texas Constitution guarantees fairness out of Texas courts, and it's a travesty that the state's highest criminal court doesn't see it.

How come so much bad or stupid these days comes out of Texas and Florida?

WOW!


Where's the transparency there? LOL