Investigating Judge Keller

That's the title of an editorial in today's New York Times.  LINK

Sharon Keller, a Texas appellate court judge, made headlines in 2007 when she was reported to have ordered the court clerk’s office to close promptly at 5 p.m., preventing a death-row inmate from filing an emergency appeal. The inmate was executed. A Texas legislator is now trying to impeach Judge Keller for dereliction of duty in that case. A legislative inquiry is long overdue.

On Sept. 25, 2007, lawyers for Michael Richard were at work on a motion to stay their client’s execution. Earlier that day, the United States Supreme Court announced that it would consider the constitutionality of lethal injection. The lawyers were seeking to have Mr. Richard’s execution, which was to be by lethal injection, put off until the Supreme Court issued its ruling.

According to press accounts, Mr. Richard’s lawyers called the court late that afternoon to say they were having computer problems and requested that the clerk’s office stay open 20 minutes past its usual closing time. According to these accounts, Judge Keller denied the request. Mr. Richard was put to death that evening.

Judge Keller has been quoted saying that Mr. Richard’s lawyers did not give a reason for wanting the delay, and that she simply stated that the court closes at 5 p.m.

The case prompted widespread outrage. A group of lawyers filed a complaint with Texas’s State Commission on Judicial Conduct, but more than a year later, the commission, inexcusably, still has not taken any public action. This week, State Representative Lon Burnam introduced an impeachment resolution against Judge Keller, accusing her of “gross neglect of duty” and “willful disregard for human life.”

And:

Impeaching a judge is not a step a legislature should take lightly. It is important that judges be insulated from political pressures so they have the independence necessary to administer justice fairly. But judges cannot be allowed to use their extraordinary discretion to deny litigants the fundamentals of due process. That is especially true if the stakes are literally life or death.

Representative Burnam's proposal is House Resolution 480. 

Earlier coverage begins here.  Selected posts includes:

• Sharon Keller is Texas' Judge Dread
• Judge in Death Case Violated Policies
• More on the September 25 Timeline and the Execution of Michael Richard
• Presiding Judge Keller and the CCA
• Impeach Sharon Keller!