Litigation

Panel Hears Complaint Against Texas Judge

By Peter Hardin

The future of Texas’ top criminal court judge rests in the hands of a disciplinary panel that heard emotional arguments over whether she should be punished or exonderated.

Judge Sharon Keller, who presides over the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, was charged with misconduct in her handling of a last-minute death row appeal (see Gavel Grab). The death row inmate involved in the case was executed on Sept. 25, 2007, a short time after Judge Keller refused to keep her courthouse doors open.

In arguments before the disciplinary commission Friday, a prosecutor condemned what he called the judge’s “gross carelessness” in denying the last-minute appeal, according to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article. Mike McKetta accused Judge Keller of violating procedures for the day of an inmate’s execution after she found out the inmate’s lawyers were laboring to prepare an appeal petition.

But a lawyer representing Judge Keller, Charles “Chip” Babcock, contended she had handled the matter properly, the Austin American-Statesman reported, and that death penalty opponents and other detractors were working to force her from the bench. Her foes had presented a “pack of lies,” Babcock argued, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Some members of the Commission on Judicial Conduct, which did not issue an immediate decision, found the case troubling.

Commissioner Janelle Shephard said she saw “shocking dysfunction in the court,” and she asked, “Where does the buck stop in this whole fiasco?” Commissioner Karry Matson accused both sides of “dropping the ball.”

A special master who presided earlier over Judge Keller’s ethics trial said she did not violate a written rule or law, and he recommended Judge Keller not lose her job. McKetta, however, has urged that she be sanctioned.

Full post as published by The Gavel on June 21, 2010 (boomark / email).