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| Inmate wins stay of execution |
| By Dallas Morning News |
| Published: 07/04/2005 |
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The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has issued a stay of execution for a man found guilty of killing two Plano residents. Charles Dean Hood of Indiana was convicted in 1990 in the double homicide of a Plano man and his girlfriend. He was to die by injection last Thursday; the stay was issued late last Monday, said Mr. Hood's attorney, Richard Ellis of California. The court sent the case back to the trial court because the jury was not allowed to consider mitigating circumstances during sentencing, Mr. Ellis said. The state has 120 days to examine the case, although an extension is possible. Mr. Hood, 36, is asking whether the judge should have allowed the jury to consider his mental impairments. Mr. Ellis said his client has problems pronouncing the alphabet and was run over by a truck as a young child. He is not retarded. Mr. Hood was found guilty of the shooting deaths of Ronald Williamson and his girlfriend, Tracie Wallace. Mr. Hood's bloody fingerprints were found inside the Plano home where Mr. Williamson and Ms. Wallace were killed. He was arrested in Indiana driving Mr. Williamson's car. Mr. Hood had pawned jewelry and used Mr. Williamson's credit card. The stay is the second for Mr. Hood - in 1994 the U.S. Supreme Court delayed a scheduled execution so it could examine his appeal. That appeal was denied. Last Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Mr. Hood's request for DNA testing of blood found on several items after the deaths. |
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