A Texas death row inmate won't be able to argue for a new trial, despite admissions of an affair between his trial judge and the prosecutor.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a ruling Wednesday that convicted murderer Charles Dean Hood should have raised concerns about the affair between the now retired court officials in earlier appeals.
The ruling overturned a lower court's recommendation that Hood should be able to argue for a new trial based on the affair.
Current Collin County prosecutor John Rolater called the ruling "a significant success." Hood's attorney declined to comment.
Hood won a reprieve last September, a day before his scheduled execution. He was convicted in the 1989 fatal shootings of a 26-year-old woman and her 46-year-old boyfriend in Plano.
