[Update: In an unexpected reversal, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has thrown out Charles Dean Hood's death sentence on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court appeal and national media attention.

Hood, who was convicted of killing "his boss and his boss's girlfriend," challenged the 1990 ruling at the state's highest criminal court because of a rumored affair between the prosecutor and the judge who heard his case. That judge, Verla Sue Holland, went on to serve on the CCA until 2001. Eight of her former colleague still sit on the court. In September, the ...

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