Hood granted new punishment hearing

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a new punishment trial to death row inmate Charles Dean Hood.

Hood was convicted of the 1990 capital murder of Ronald Williamson and Traci Wallace. Today’s ruling does not raise any issue as to Hood's guilt of this crime, and the courts have previously described the evidence of his guilt as “conclusive,” according to officials with the Collin County District Attorney’s office.

Today’s ruling is based on a defect in the Texas capital punishment statute identified by the Supreme Court in 1989 and corrected by the Texas Legislature in 1991, according to a press release from the district attorney’s office. Hood’s trial was between these two events, and the trial judge, as was common practice at that time, tried to remedy the defect with an instruction to the jury. In 2001, the United States Supreme Court cast doubt on the jury instruction practice used in Hood’s case.

In 2005, Hood challenged the instruction used in his case just prior to a scheduled execution. The Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed his challenge in early 2007, ruling that he was required to raise the claim in an earlier challenge to his conviction and sentence. Today, the court reconsidered its 2007 decision, determined that Hood was not required to raise the claim in an earlier challenge, and awarded him a new punishment trial.

A separate claim challenging Hood’s conviction is currently pending in the Supreme Court. The state’s response in that litigation is due next month, and district attorney officials say they have no comment on that litigation at this time.

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