Shortly after the trial begins, one or both of the parties request the Rule. The sequestration rule is simply that the witnesses are excluded from the courtroom until it is their turn to testify. the sequestration rule is a bedrock principle of the criminal justice system to insure a fair trial. The sequestration rule was



Charles Dean Hood sits on death row in Texas. After the trial , it was discovered that Judge Verla Sue Hood and the prosecutor Thomas S. O’Connell were having an extramarital love affair during the trial.Recently, Texas’s highest court for criminal matters rejected Mr.Dean’s appeal.The court held Mr.Hood waited too long to raise the issue  of whether a love affair between the judge and the prosecutor could create a conflict of interest.

 “A judge who has engaged in an intimate, extramarital, sexual relationship with the prosecutor trying a capital murder case before her has a conflict of interest and must recuse herself,” the brief from the ethics experts said. “Of all the courts to have considered the issue, only the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in this case failed to recognize this imperative.” Reported Adam Liptak of the New York Times.

A former governor, former FBI director,U.S. Attorney, and a host of other judges and prosecutors have filed a brief in support of Mr. Hood’s appeal to the United Supreme Court.

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