(August 27, 2008)--Attorneys for a Texas death row inmate asked Wednesday for a new court hearing date because the current one is set for two days after the inmates scheduled execution.
Charles Dean Hood was sentenced to die after he was convicted of killing a topless club dancer and her boyfriend in Plano.
His lawyers want the hearing on whether they can question a former judge and a former prosecutor about allegations of a secret and ethically improper romance.
They contend the alleged relationship between Judge Verla Sue Holland, who presided over Hood's capital murder trial in 1990, and the prosecutor, former Collin County District Attorney Tom O'Connell, tainted the trial.
Hood was originally scheduled to die on June 17, but Texas prison officials aborted the execution after running out of time to carry out the death sentence by midnight because of lengthy last-minute court appeals.
His execution was rescheduled for Sept. 10.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected Hood's efforts to block his execution on the grounds of the alleged relationship.