Top Texas criminal judge warned but keeps job

hosted ^ | Jul 16

[JoeProBono]

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- The top criminal judge in Texas was spared her job but still punished Friday by a state panel that reprimanded embattled Judge Sharon Keller for turning away a death-row inmate's late appeal hours before his 2007 execution.

Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, had faced removal from the bench. But the State Commission on Judicial Conduct instead slapped her with a "public warning," one of the least severe sanctions at its disposal......

[JoeProBono]

"Judge Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, was in enough trouble already. She left her office at 5:00pm on the day a Texas inmate was scheduled to be executed, even though it was her turn to stay late in case further appeals were filed with the court. Attorneys tried to file a last minute appeal, but could not find Judge Keller.

Her actions on that day were unconscionable, and her behavior is now being investigated by the Commission on Judicial Conduct. Her answer to the charge is to pass the buck. She blames the inmate's attorneys because they didn't contact one of the other judges. This is a ridiculous defense. The other judges were not required to be available -- Judge Keller was.

Judge Keller is also asking the charges be dismissed because the state will not pay her lawyer at taxpayer expense, and said it would be "financially ruinous" for her to pay her own legal expenses. This, even though her last filing with the Texas Ethics Committee showed an income of $275,000 and a property in Austin valued at $1 million. Sounds to me like she's in a better position to pay her own attorney than most defendants."

[chuck_the_tv_out]

Lawyers should stop gaming the system.

[BuckeyeTexan]

Here are the facts about this case that the media fails to report:

1. There are documented, established procedures for filing after-hours appeals. Appeals do not have to be filed at the courthouse before 5:00 PM. Attorneys have the home phone numbers of every judge on the Appeals Court.

2. Judge Keller does not employ the staff at the courthouse and did not have the authority to hold the courthouse open after 5:00 PM, even if she had wanted to do so.

3. The Clerk of the Court was new and unfamiliar with proper procedures. He called Judge Keller and asked simply, ?Does the courthouse ever stay open after 5:00 PM?? He said nothing about a late appeal being filed.

4. Judge Keller was not even the duty judge that day. She was at home dealing with a repairman when the Clerk called. The Clerk of the Court knew who the duty judge was and should have referred appeal questions to the duty judge.

5. The defendant?s attorneys left the appeal to a paralegal who was having computer problems. It was the paralegal who asked the Clerk if he could hold the courthouse open past 5:00 PM. The attorneys who know what the after-hours appeal process is.

6. The Court expected an appeal for this defendant, intended to deny it, and had already taken steps to begin writing their decision.

[BuckeyeTexan]

The first paragraph that you quoted is positively false.

[Bigun]

You simply do not know what you are talking about!

Stop playing games!

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

"You simply do not know what you are talking about! Stop playing games!"

And just what exactly am I talking about?

[Dixie Yooper]

I’m amazed this guy wasn’t shot dead while trying to escape soon after the verdict was read.

[Bigun]

That is a very good question!

What ARE you talking about?

[tupac]

Sounds like some of the facts in the source material are wrong. Good job judge.

[JoeProBono]

If you have a point to make about the article then state your case rather than attack the poster.

[GOPyouth]

"Judge Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, was in enough trouble already. She left her office at 5:00pm on the day a Texas inmate was scheduled to be executed, even though it was her turn to stay late in case further appeals were filed with the court. Attorneys tried to file a last minute appeal, but could not find Judge Keller. Her actions on that day were unconscionable, and her behavior is now being investigated by the Commission on Judicial Conduct. Her answer to the charge is to pass the buck. She blames the inmate's attorneys because they didn't contact one of the other judges. This is a ridiculous defense. The other judges were not required to be available -- Judge Keller was. Judge Keller is also asking the charges be dismissed because the state will not pay her lawyer at taxpayer expense, and said it would be "financially ruinous" for her to pay her own legal expenses. This, even though her last filing with the Texas Ethics Committee showed an income of $275,000 and a property in Austin valued at $1 million. Sounds to me like she's in a better position to pay her own attorney than most defendants."

Is this part of the article, or your statements?

[JoeProBono]

It’s called background “history”.

[centurion316]

Sounds to me like incompetent attorneys and a media hatchet job on a conservative judge. I’m not surprised by either.

[Bigun]

The POINT is that neither you are the AP writer of this story know what they are talking about!

Period!

[JoeProBono]

[Bigun]

That is EXACTLY what it is and nothing more!

[Bigun]

Your hero?

[secondamendmentkid]

Do you work for the leftwing Houston Barnacle or the Austin ObamaStatesman? Shysters in cahoots with anti death penalty advocates and press surrogates made a non-story into a story intended to dupe the general public. If you can’t refute Buckeye Texans details, then don’t be a lackey for a murderer that needed executing in the first place.

[BuckeyeTexan]

It was a hatchet job. I’ve never seen anything like it. Judge Keller did absolutely nothing improper, morally or ethically.

A Dem (State) Congressman tried to start impeachment hearings over the whole thing but a respected, former Dem judge from the Appeals Court testified for Judge Keller to say that she’d done nothing improper.

I don’t think she should have gotten the public warning.