HOUSTON — With less than a week to go before the scheduled execution of a man who contends his murder trial was tainted by a love affair between the judge and the prosecutor, a state judge on Thursday ordered a hearing into the accusation and the Texas attorney general called for a review of the fairness of the trial.
The judge’s order and the attorney general’s request are the latest twists in a complicated legal drama that has prompted criticism from prosecutors, judges and experts on legal ethics across the nation. They argue that if the love affair occurred, the condemned man did not receive a fair trial.
- As Texas Execution Nears, Hearing Is Set on a Claim That Judge and Prosecutor Had Affair, The New York Times, Sep. 5, 2008
The government should not kill people anyway. It is a barbaric form of punishment. If it would work as a deterrent to violent crime — as pro-killing proponents claim, Texas should be needing fewer prisons instead of more and more.
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