A conflict comes to light?

With the questions about conflicts of interest in our fictional world of Raising the Bar, it's rather instructive to read about a guy about to be executed after being convicted in a trial in which the prosecutor was, what'dya know? sleeping with the judge.

The guy has been on death row for almost 20 years, even though the affair was "common knowledge" around the courthouse. My favorite bit though, is what one judge said as the condemned man's lawyers tried one last tactic to force the judge and DA to testify: The judge, Robert T. Dry set a hearing for two days after Mr Hood (the condemned guy) was supposed to be executed remarking “In reality, you are exploring a civil lawsuit for the estate of Mr. Hood.” Wait! Judges do that kind of thing? Yep. All the time.