I have closely monitored the trial of Judge Sharon Keller this week and was even able to attend the trial on two of its four days. I filed one of the judicial complaints against Keller in November 2007. It was co-signed by about 1,900 people. The testimony presented at the trial supports the severest sanctions against Keller - her removal from office for violating the Execution-Day Procedures of her court and for casting discredit on the Texas judiciary.
One of the charges from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct is that she has brought discredit on the Texas judiciary. The New York Times has an editorial in today's paper calling on Keller to be removed, saying "at a hearing on Wednesday, she said in a crowded courtroom that if she had it to do again, she would do the same thing. That testimony is further proof of why Judge Keller needs to be removed from the bench." The Times editorial shows that the discredit she has brought on the judiciary continues.
Here is a link to a blog post by Austin American Statesman reporter Chuck Lindell about Keller's testimony on the witness stand. She testified that in hindsight she would do nothing differently on Sept 25, 2007 if she had it to do over again. Her sworn testimony has further damaged the integrity of the Texas judiciary. The most effective way to restore integrity to Texas' highest criminal court is for Sharon Keller to be removed from office. She has seen that the consequences of her saying "we close at 5" were that Michael Richard was unable to file an appeal with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, even though his lawyers called the court again shortly before 6 PM and were told not to bother to bring the appeal to the court because no one was there to accept it.
Cheryl Johnson, the duty judge assigned to receive all communications regarding the case of Michael Richard on Sept 25, 2007, testified on day one of the trial that she was not informed about the request by Richard's lawyers to file a late appeal. She testified that she would have accepted the appeal. Sharon Keller was obligated by the rules of her own court to direct all communications regarding Richard to Judge Johnson.
"She should have directed (the request to file late briefs) to me," said Johnson, who had been assigned by rotation to be the only judge expected to handle execution-day phone calls, faxes and filings from lawyers for the inmate, Michael Richard.
"And I would have told them that they could file," Johnson said.
"It's an execution. They might be valid pleadings. I have no other way of knowing."
Johnson, however, said she didn't learn about the request for more time until four days after Richard was executed - an account contradicted in parts of a witness deposition revealed Monday.
"I was upset by it. I was frustrated," she said. "And it made the court look bad."
Sharon Keller could have avoided being charged with misconduct and incompetence, if she had responded to Ed Marty when he called her at 4:45 pm on Sept 25 by saying, "tell them the clerk's office closes at 5, but they can submit an appeal after 5 by directly contacting any judge on the court who is willing to accept the appeal. Let them know that Judge Johnson is the assigned duty judge on the Richard case and inform Judge Johnson of their request to file an appeal.
Here is a quote from the judicial complaint I filed: "It is clear from her actions that Judge Keller can no longer be expected to preside over death penalty cases with the requisite fair, bias-free and even-handed disposition so critical to such serious life and death matters."
A PDF of the judicial complaint I filed in November 2007 is here: http://su.pr/2ArO3J
A video of a copy of the judicial complaint being delivered for Sharon Keller to the clerk of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in November 2007 is on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbVd9P3R7MU. The video contains footage of the clerk's office remaining open 3-4 minutes after 5PM to receive the copy of the complaint.
Below is a TV news report of the trial's first day.
