Robert Leon Hashagen III, previously convicted of murdering 94-year-old Evelyn Goodall in 2013, has been granted a new trial due to a shocking revelation. The judge who presided over his case, Timothy Henderson, was found to have had a sexual relationship with one of the prosecutors.
Hashagen's conviction, which occurred in February 2021, was appealed by his legal team following the discovery of this undisclosed relationship. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in a 3-2 decision that the relationship constituted a violation of Hashagen's due process rights, necessitating a retrial.
Judge Henderson, while admitting to the consensual nature of the relationship, maintained that he remained impartial throughout the trial. However, Judge William Musseman, in the appeal's ruling, argued that this type of error permeates the entire trial and cannot be dismissed. He emphasized the betrayal of ethical standards inherent in such conduct.
Henderson resigned from his position in March 2021 after facing accusations of sexual misconduct from three different female attorneys. While a special prosecutor's investigation didn't uncover evidence of non-consensual contact, the revelation of the affair with the prosecutor in Hashagen's case has irrevocably tainted the original trial's outcome.
