Litigation

TX Judge: ?Vindicated? by Dismissal of Reprimand

By Peter Hardin

Judge Sharon Keller, Texas’ top criminal court judge, said she feels “vindicated” by a special three-judge panel’s dismissal of an earlier reprimand against her.

“It’s been a three-year-long ordeal,” Judge Keller added, according to a Texas Lawyer article. “I won,” she said. “People can call it what they want.”

The panel ruled that the reprimand, called a public warning, was not an option that was legally available to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which had issued it. The commission found that Judge Keller had engaged in ?willful or persistent conduct that casts public discredit on the judiciary? (see Gavel Grab).

Judge Keller said she intends to seek reelection in 2012. The Texas Lawyer presents a comprehensive chronicle of her case and the controversy that surrounded it, given an ongoing debate over the death penalty in Texas.

Judge Keller was allowed to keep her job after the commission rebuked her over her “We close at 5″ response when lawyers for an inmate wanted to submit a last-minute appeal. The inmate was executed a short time later. According to the Texas Lawyer, fellow  Judge Paul Womack of the Criminal Court of Appeals said he was present at the court on the day of the scheduled execution.

Full post as published by The Gavel on October 20, 2010 (boomark / email).