Disbarment is readers' preferred punishment for lovebird judge and DA

Grits' week-long reader poll has ended and the results are in regarding what should be the punishment for Judge Verla Sue Holland and former Collin County DA Tom O'Connell, the pair of legal lovebirds from Collin County whose adulterous, years-long affair has left hundreds of cases in question.

One third of Grits readers, 33%, thought they should face criminal prosecution, while 45% said they should be disbarred. Only 15% said a public reprimand would be sufficient, while 6% said there should be no punishment because "it was a long time ago."

I personally voted with the group who believes Holland and O'Connell should be disbarred; in a past era I might even approve if they were tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail. But I see no sense in wasting a dime of taxpayer money to prosecute the pair.

An AP story today shows Grits readers aren't alone in finding the judge and prosecutor's behavior almost inconceivably stupid and harmful:

Legal experts are harshly criticizing a former judge and an ex-Texas prosecutor, saying their alleged sexual affair while handling cases together represents a black eye to the system.

"It's such incredible bad judgment because it throws every conviction into doubt," said Fred Moss, a Southern Methodist University law professor.

An apparent open secret 20 years ago in Collin County legal circles, the alleged affair became part of the public record again last week. ...

About 30 former prosecutors and federal and state judges have already signed a letter sent to Gov. Rick Perry arguing the alleged relationship had to be considered when it came to Hood, convicted in 1990 of fatally shooting two people in Plano.

The letter states that a sexual relationship, which Hood's lawyers say the judge and prosecutor acknowledged under oath during depositions last week, "would have had a significant impact on the ability of the judicial system to accord Mr. Hood a fair and impartial trial." ...

"The appearance of impropriety is absolutely there and it does affect the integrity of the system," said Rick Hagen, president of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. "And you can't deny that." ...

Neither Holland nor O'Connell have been publicly disciplined by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct or the State Bar of Texas. ...

Moss said he expects the appeals court to find a reason to grant a new trial for Hood, who was convicted of killing a 26-year-old former dancer and her 46-year-old boyfriend.

"What it does is bring the whole system into question," Moss said. "It's a real black eye to the system and very unfortunate. It shakes the confidence of the public in the criminal justice system."

All that said, Grits reader poll question asked only what SHOULD happen to Holland and O'Connell. If asked what WILL happen, my own prediction would be "nothing." No public reprimand, much less disbarment, and no prosecutor will ever even crack the lawbooks looking for possible charges. The Court of Criminal Appeals will grant Hood relief based on other grounds, if I had to predict, conveniently avoiding any formal inquiry that would further embarrass their former colleague.

Maybe that's too cynical, but how cynical was it for the judge and DA to remain mum about their affair hoping Hood would be executed to cover up their misconduct? In an environment where this kind of behavior is blatantly tolerated at the courthouse and overlooked in the appellate courts on a death penalty case, I'm not sure you can be too cynical. I'd love to be proven wrong.