Charles Hood was placed in the death chamber several times on June 17 before Texas announced that it would be unable to follow its lethal injection protocol prior to midnight when the execution warrant expired. The day was filled with appeal filings, court decisions, and dismissals right until the midnight deadline. The controversy began a week ago when Hood’s attorneys filed motions asserting that the presiding judge and lead prosecutor had a romantic relationship during his murder trial. The factors that held up the execution last night “have been procedural and not about this issue between the trial judge and prosecutor,” said Hood’s attorney Andrea Keilen. “We’re hoping some court will look at this [relationship] issue,” she added.

After the prison could not meet the execution deadline, Governor Rick Perry issued a one-time 30-day reprieve. Earlier in the day, the judge who signed Hood’s death warrant withdrew the warrant and recused himself from further proceedings. However, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that the lower court lacked the authority to withdraw the warrant and ordered a new judge to reinstate the case.

Ms. Keilen, executive director of the Texas Defender Service, said, “We’ve had a lot of cases in Texas that defy common sense, but this does reach a new low.” Lawrence Fox, a lawyer and professor of judicial ethics at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard commented, “These proceedings are far too susceptible to human error and call into question if we ought to impose the ultimate sanction.” If the execution had been carried out, Mr. Hood would have been the 407th person to be executed in Texas.
(A. Ellick, “Time Runs Out for Execution in Texas,” New York Times, June 18, 2008). Terry Lyn Short was executed on June 17 in Oklahoma, becoming the 7th person executed in 2008. See Arbitrariness.