It should be breaking news when it occurs, because the fact is, staying an execution in the state of Texas is rarely ever done. Generally speaking, Texas is right up there with, oh, I don’t know, perhaps Iran, when it comes to carrying out executions—and when Mr. Bush was governor, oh boy, Texas probably even surpassed Iran.

But just an hour—and they always wait to the last minute when they do this; why is that?—before he was set to meet his maker (and there is some question as to who that is), a former strip club bouncer condemned for a double slaying twenty years ago won a reprieve—and, one could say, a new lease on life (sorry, couldn’t resist).

When he was informed that his life would be spared, Charles Dean Hood cried like a guy who had just won Lotto.

“I just thank God,” Hood said. “I just walk by my faith. If it didn’t happen, I was going home to the Lord.”

Another one who has found Christ while in prison, but lived under the law the Father of Lies while on the outside.

This is only half the story, however. Check out the details provided to us from our trusty AP wire:

State District Judge Curt Henderson did not give a reason for lifting the death warrant. He later recused himself from the case.

Hood’s attorneys lost several last-day appeals, including one in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in which they claimed the now retired judge who oversaw Hood’s 1990 trial, Verla Sue Holland, was having an affair at the time with the prosecutor assigned to the case, then-Collin County District Attorney Tom O’Connell.

After that appeal was rejected, lawyers from the Texas Defender Service filed a motion in Henderson’s court seeking all correspondence from the prosecutor’s office that may be related to the alleged affair.

Holland and O’Connell have declined to address the allegations.

Hood, 38, was convicted of murder for the 1989 slayings of Ronald Williamson and Tracie Lynn Wallace at Williamson’s home in the Dallas suburb of Plano. When arrested in Indiana, Hood was driving Williamson’s $70,000 Cadillac but insisted he had Williamson’s permission.

Hood says he’s innocent. Tuesday’s was his fifth execution date.

Kind of makes you think about what goes on in good ole boy country, doesn’t it? I reckon there might be some corruption involved in this story and that maybe Mr. Hood should seek a new trial. Who knows, maybe he is one those Innocent Men we’ve heard so much about lately?

A wedding is supposed to be a time of great celebration, marked by a gathering of friends and family. On Saturday, 23-year-old New Yorker Sean Bell was all set to marry his high school sweetheart. Invitations had been sent. The wedding hall prepared. Cake and flowers delivered. Guests anxious.

Sean Bell wouldn’t make it down the aisle, however.

As Sean and several of his friends were driving away from a strip club after a bachelor’s night out, something happened. Sean lost control of his car, hit an undercover officer standing outside the club and crashed in an unmarked police van nearby. It has been reported that after that happened, members of the NYPD fired some fifty rounds into the car Sean was driving, killing him almost instantly and wounding several others.

None of the men—including Sean Bell—were armed. Police “thought one of the men in the car might have had a gun.”

Thought and might are strong words. If memory serves me right, four NYPD cops trolling for a rape suspect back in 1999 knocked on Amadou Diallo’s door to question him. When he approached to the door he reached inside his jacket, at which point the officers shot at him forty-one times, hitting Diallo nineteen times and killing him.

The object Diallo was reaching for turned out to be his wallet. Those cops thought it was a gun and Diallo might open fire on them.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said it was “too early to say whether the [Sean Bell] shooting was justified.” Members of the Queens community where Sean lived are calling for Kelly’s resignation.

How can a massacre be justified in any way? What would motivate five police officers to open fire on a car full of unarmed men? If three or four shots were fired, we could sit back, wait for the internal investigation to bear out the facts and make judgments from there. But with fifty rounds being fired, one has to question the intention of the police officers firing those shots.

Ray Kelly said the Sean Bell incident “stemmed from an undercover operation inside the strip club. Seven officers in plain clothes were investigating the Kalua Cabaret”—the strip club where it happened—“and five [of those] were involved in the shooting.”

The hail of gunfire also hit nearby homes and a train station, though no residents were injured.
 
Sean Bell was no street thug; the NYPD should have known that if it had conducted such a thorough investigation. According to Sean’s friends and a local pastor, Sean was a star pitcher for John Adams High School in Ozone Park, and also a devoted father. So good was he on the mound, in fact, that Sean dreamed of playing in the major leagues and his coaches encouraged him, saying he could make it.

Being a man, however, pursuing a baseball career become secondary to Sean when he found out that his girlfriend was pregnant. Three years ago, she gave birth to their daughter, Jada. And Sean gave up his dream of pitching professionally. Five months ago, their second daughter, Jordyn, was born. Just recently, Sean decided it was time to make it official and marry her.

“He was a great baseball player. He would have signed professionally,” his pastor said. “He gave up all that baseball and everything to be with his high school sweetheart.”

Sean worked odd jobs while he and his bride-to-be lived with her parents in an apartment on Beach 27th Street in Rockaway. Sean, though, wanted to move to Atlanta after the wedding.

Why?

His pastor said Sean thought New York life was way too “violent” and didn’t want to raise a family there.

Eighteen years ago, newlywed Gregory Smart knelt on the floor of his Derry, New Hampshire home in the middle of the night and begged for mercy while teenager Billy Flynn coldly refused ot listen and then shot Gregory in the back of the head.

Billy and his high school buddies were infatuated with Gregory’s hot new wife, Pam Smart, the 23-year-old blond who worked at the high school.

Billy met Pam in a self-esteem class she helped teach at the school. They quickly became lovers. She threw sex at him, giving it to him any time he wanted it, as if he was living in some sort of teenage boy’s fantasy.

But then, on May 1, 1990, after Pam was able to get young Billy addicted to her, she convinced Billy and one of his friends to break into Pam and Gregory’s condo, wrestle Gregory to the ground and, as Billy’s friend held a buck knife to Gregory’s throat, Billy stood in back of him, asked God for forgiveness—which I have always been taught should only been done after the sin is committed—and fired a .38-caliber revolver into his head.

There were two other teenage friends outside in a getaway car waiting.

Three of the teens were convicted of murder-conspiracy or accomplice charges. In exchange for testifying against Pam,

Billy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 28 years to life in prison. In about 10 years, Billy will be eligible for parole.

Today, however, Billy goes by the name William. He has a wife and a teenage stepdaughter. He’s a member of the Jaycees. He loves to play softball.

All of this from prison, mind you.

What a country.

Pam Smart is at Bedford Hills Correctional Center for Women in New York where, I was just told the other day, she is still wooing the guards with sex to get what she wants.

Good ole Pam … love to see that she hasn’t changed one bit.

Billy Flynn is now asking a New Hampshire judge to suspend the remainder of his sentence.

Why?

Well, Billy claims he’s changed. He’s not the lovestruck teen he once was. He’s a different, remorseful person, with domestic responsibilities, who realizes what he did was wrong.

According to the AP, Billy’s “court file contains more than three dozen letters of support from prison employees, friends and others who know him. Another nine letters come from people who say they would hire Flynn once he is released.”

A hearing is scheduled for tomorrow morning in Rockingham Superior Court in Brentwood, N.H.

In the motion, Billy asks for a sentence reduction because, at age 33, he has now spent more than half his life in prison.

“He has used those years to develop from a boy into a man of great character, fully rehabilitated and ready to contribute to society upon his release from incarceration,” says his lawyer, Cathy Green of Manchester, N.H.

Boo-hoo-hoo … and so another murder is crying because he or she has to serve his or her sentence.

Billy Flynn doesn’t even deserve the court’s time—better yet, early release.

Our first contest drew hundreds of entries. Everyone offered great ideas. And I want to personally say thank you to each and every contestant for the obvious interest all of you showed and the time you took to write up your ideas.

Tomorrow, December 4, is launch day for the book. My first new true crime in 18 months. Thanks to everyone who has supported my career. I am gratefully in debt to all of you.

Before I get into the contest, I wanted to talk about an e-mail I received from Billy Sullivan’s mother. Billy is one of the killers I profile in the book. Now, before I get into the e-mail, I want to ask everyone NOT to attack this woman or personally insult her in any way. Please stay focused on the core of what she is implying and keep your comments directed her ignorance and, perhaps, denial.

In an e-mail dated six weeks before the book’s release (so there’s no way she could have read the book), Billy’s mother addressed some comments I made to the media regarding Billy recently losing his bid for a new trial. During the hearing, Billy said he was sorry for what he did. It was the first time he had ever addressed his crime and seemed remorseful. I claimed it was disingenuous.

She wrote,

i have remained silent until now. i just read your article about billy sullivan’s apology  [and] you said, “now he’s saying he is sorry because he needs something”  what?  as a criminal writer you should know that an appeal is based soley on legal mistakes that occured during the trial  it has nothing to do with anything occuring at present  maybe you are the one who is wrong, please remember he is not the one trying to profit from the death of a great woman, you are!  i also gathered you are going with the thought that billy was the manipulator  who is the one with documented mental illness?     

As anyone will surely testify to after reading my book objectively, I clearly outline Billy’s mental illness and in no way place the blame on Billy’s shoulders alone.

OK … the contest (drum roll please …)

1rst Place definitely goes to Dayle from Colorado. Dayle wrote:

I think you should make a profile for the book on all the dating sites – but make it from the point of view of either Billy or Nicole (maybe both!).  Put in some hints about Billy that he might not be quite the gentleman he wants to appear to be.  Perhaps some of the sites would help “enhance” it, since I know a lot of them are pushing for safer practices in the world of online dating.

Gregg and I thought Dayle’s suggestion was extremely inventive and unique, which is what we were looking for during the judging.

2nd Place: Leo from Vermont, who suggested that we send out an e-mail blast with the subject: “Online Murder: You Could Be Next.” The e-mail would read like a news release of an online predator/serial killer and, at the end, would be a surprise ad for the book.

3rd Place: Fran from Michigan, who suggested an online ad in the form of an e-card from one lover to the other. There would be a cartoon photo of two young lovers sitting at the computer together holding hands. The caption would read: “Thanks for the good times … we met online and our lives have not been the same since.” Then, on the inside of the card, Nicole and Billy’s mugshots, with the line underneath, “You can say THAT again.”

[Note from Gregg: Come on, CR readers, show Matt some love and order it today. And if you don't read, try the audiobook. Terrific!]