USA - Texas. Today a new judge has scheduled a hearing for Monday to consider Charles Dean Hood 's request

Today a new judge has scheduled a hearing for Monday to consider Charles Dean Hood 's request for more information about an alleged affair between the judge and prosecutor in his case during Mr. Hood's 1990 murder trial. (see Sept. 3). Lawyers for Hood want to compel testimony about the allegations from the former judge, Verla Sue Holland, and the former district attorney, Thomas O’Connell. The former judge in the case, Robert Dry, had set a hearing on the issue for Sept. 12, 2 days after Hood's scheduled execution. But the judge later recused himself and the new judge, Greg Brewer, quickly ordered the hearing. Lawyers for Mr. Hood contend that the affair, first reported in 2005 in the online magazine Salon, was long rumored in Collin County's legal circles, but no one with evidence about it had been willing to testify under oath. In June, Mr. Hood's lawyers got a sworn affidavit from a former assistant district attorney, Matthew Goeller, who said the romantic relationship "was common knowledge in the district attorney's office, and the Collin County bar, in general," at the time of the trial. Mr. Goeller said the affair was going on when he came to the office in 1987 and continued through 1993. With this testimony in hand, Mr. Hood's lawyers asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest court, to stay the execution, but it rejected the motion, saying that the argument should have been raised sooner. Mr. Hood's lawyers then filed a motion in the county's civil court that sought to compel Mr. O’Connell and Judge Holland to testify about their relationship. That motion landed in the courtroom of Judge Robert T. Dry, who last week set a hearing date for 2 days after the scheduled execution. On Wednesday, Judge Dry suddenly recused himself, saying he had also been close friends and business partners with Judge Holland's former husband, Earl Holland, who is now dead. The case was then transferred to Judge Greg Brewer, who quickly ordered a hearing to be held on Monday to decide whether to require Mr. O’Connell and Judge Holland to testify. Siding with calls for a probe into the affair is Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. He told prosecutors in a letter that the state will seek a thorough review of Hood's claims before execution to "protect the integrity of the Texas legal system". Abbott's decision comes just 1 day after a group of 22 former judges and prosecutors sent a letter to the governor of Texas seeking a delay of execution to allow time to probe allegations of the affair. Among those who signed the letter are former FBI director William Sessions and 2 former federal appeals judges, John Gibbons and Patricia Wald.