Posted on 07/16/2010 6:24:51 PM PDT by SmithL
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.
The resolution to what became a three-year saga seemed to leave neither side satisfied. Keller sought nothing short of an exoneration, and her critics grumbled over the panel letting her off with a light rebuke.
Death penalty opponents and observers had waited nearly three years to find out whether Keller would lose her job after famously saying "We close at 5" while attorneys for a twice-convicted killer scrambled to file a last-minute appeal.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
She might have said it in a nicer way, and then all this unpleasantness could have been avoided.
That said, I probably would have reviewed the appeal anyway.
Why'd they wait until the last minute? I'm sure the guy was on death row for years and years.
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.
This defendant was not executed because Judge Keller refused to hold the courthouse open past 5:00 PM. He was executed because his attorneys left his appeal paperwork to a paralegal - and because he deserved it.
I thought as much. Thanks.
Appeal was based on recent decision.
He was executed because he was a two-time murderer, and was found guilty and sentenced to death....period.
This bullcrap of endless appeals and 20+ years on Death Row needs to stop. (those who oppose the death penalty never had their family members murdered)
You are correct about Richard’s attorneys. They have a history of filing last-minute appeals to force undeserved stays of execution.
The decision by the Supreme Court to issue certiorari was new. However, the substance of the claim was one that Richard’s attorneys had litigated in numerous other cases. They had no real excuse for not timely filing the stay request.
“I’m sorry, we close at five.”
now, don’t you feel better?
Hey, I'm not the one whose chain was pulled.
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