Bench Slapped

In a notable bench slap yesterday by the US 5th Circuit against the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, a three judge panel wrote that:

"The facts before us are a core manifestation of a case where the state failed to provide a full and fair hearing and where such a hearing would bring out facts which, if proven true, support ... relief,"

They could have been talking about the Charles Hood case out of Plano where the CCA recently refused to require the judge and prosecutor admit whether they were having an affair during Hood's capital murder trial. But this was the Michael Wayne Hall case, where the CCA refused to order an adversarial hearing to determine if the defendant was mentally retarded.

The "core manifestation" of the 5th Circuit's ruling, however, applies more broadly to describe a primary shortcoming of Texas' highest criminal court. To that extent, the Charles Hood case differs little from Hall's in terms of damaging the credibility of the justice system. In both instances, the CCA "failed to provide a full and fair hearing ... where such a hearing would bring out facts which, if proven true, support ... relief."

The 5th Circuit ordered a new hearing in Hall's case, while Hood remains scheduled for execution in September. In both instances, the CCA should order a "full and fair hearing" to bring out the facts.