Murder conviction reversed over relationship between judge and prosecutor

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/murder-conviction-reversed-over-
relationship-between-judge-and-prosecutor/ar-
AA1dXw4g?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=bd4b62cc5ad04f7cab305beeece69532&ei=20

In March 2021, Judge Timothy Henderson sentenced Robert Leon Hashagen III,
an Oklahoma man who had recently been convicted of first-degree murder, to
life in prison.

But now, that sentence has been vacated.

A state appeals court panel decided last week to overturn Hashagen’s
murder conviction because Henderson, who has since resigned, had a sexual
relationship with one of the prosecutors on the case. In a 3-2 decision, a
panel of judges in Oklahoma’s Court of Criminal Appeals determined that
the undisclosed relationship between Henderson and the prosecutor, who is
not identified in the ruling, “violated Hashagen’s due process rights.”

The relationship ended before the trial began in 2021, but Judge William
Musseman wrote in the majority opinion that it did not “remove our concern
as to the trial judge’s potential bias.”

Benjamin Munda, an attorney representing Hashagen, called the ruling to
overturn the conviction “the only proper outcome” once evidence of the
relationship between Henderson and a prosecutor was discovered.

“It would call into question the integrity of the entire proceeding,”
Munda said. “So I think the court did the right thing.”

Attempts to reach Henderson on Sunday evening were unsuccessful. At a 2021
hearing, Henderson said in a statement that his rulings in the Hashagen
case were “fair and supported by the evidence and facts,” according to the
Oklahoman.

Hashagen, who is now 60, was convicted in February 2021 of first-degree
murder in the death of 94-year-old Evelyn Goodall, who was found beaten in
her home after a robbery in 2013, according to the Oklahoman.

He was sentenced by Henderson that March. Later that same month, the judge
resigned after three women who had tried cases before him, including the
prosecutor in the Hashagen case, accused him of sexual misconduct, the
Oklahoman reported.

Six months later, Hashagen and his legal team appealed. They requested an
evidentiary hearing, claiming that Henderson’s relationship with the
prosecutor “raises serious questions” about Hashagen’s due process rights,
the appeals court ruling said.

The hearing took place in November 2021. Canadian County District Judge
Paul Hesse, who presided over it, found that Henderson and the prosecutor
were involved in an undisclosed sexual relationship from April 2016
through the summer of 2018, according to the ruling.

The Oklahoman reported that the prosecutor accused Henderson of making
unwanted advances and described their involvement as sexual abuse.
Henderson, through an attorney, described the contact as consensual,
according to the paper.

The state Bureau of Investigation probed the allegations of all the women,
and Henderson was not charged. Jason Hicks, the special prosecutor who
oversaw the investigation, said in a statement that there was not enough
evidence to “prove that a crime occurred,” according to the Oklahoman.

Henderson “violated the trust of the public, and our profession,” Hicks
said in the statement, adding that the judge should never be allowed to
practice law again.

In January 2018, the prosecutor attended a pretrial conference Henderson
held for the Hashagen case, Hesse found. She later argued for the state
and questioned witnesses in January 2021.

Hashagen and his attorneys were not aware of the relationship between
Henderson and the prosecutor during the trial, the ruling said.

In December 2021, Hesse recommended a new trial in the case, writing that
the circumstances raised an “unconstitutional potential for bias,”
according to the ruling.

On Thursday, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals judges agreed with
Hesse’s recommendation. The two judges who dissented cited that the
relationship had ended years before Hashagen’s trial.

Munda, Hashagen’s attorney, described the 2021 trial as “fundamentally
unfair.”

“The idea that that didn’t influence the way he presided over the trial, I
think is laughable,” Munda said.

A date for the new trial has not yet been set.


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