The judges knew and Midland county paid him for it. For over a decade.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals tossed out the capital murder conviction and death sentence of Clinton Young on Wednesday after it was discovered that one of the prosecutors in his case also worked for the judge.

Young, 38, has been on death row since 2003, convicted of a Midland County murder in which he insists he was framed. But while his other appeals were pending, a new district attorney discovered that a prosecutor who worked on Young’s case worked for the judge at the same time, even drafting the court’s order to deny one of Young’s first appeals. The prosecutor has since retired and, this year, agreed to give up his license in lieu of disciplinary action.
“Judicial and prosecutorial misconduct — in the form of an undisclosed employment relationship between the trial judge and the prosecutor appearing before him — tainted [Young’s] entire proceeding from the outset,” Texas’ highest criminal court ruled. “As a result, little confidence can be placed in the fairness of the proceedings or the outcome of Applicant’s trial.”

In 2019, Nodolf discovered during a budgeting process that Weldon Petty, who had retired earlier that year, worked more than a decade as a full-time prosecutor for the county while moonlighting for the district judges. As a prosecutor, the court stated, Petty opposed defense motions. At the same time, he drafted recommendations of denial for the judges to sign.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09...-young-tossed/