What did a Texas judge do that shut the door of a death row inmates appeal?
As lawyers frantically tried to file the last-minute appeal that could have halted the execution of a death row inmate, the Texas judge who oversaw the only court who could hear it was preparing to shut the doors for the day. “We close at 5,” Judge Sharon Keller told a court staffer Sept. 25, 2007. The appeal was never heard, and four hours later, convicted killer Michael Wayne Richard was executed. Now it’s Keller who will be before a judge, facing charges that could end her career in a special trial that begins today in San Antonio. Denying the rights of a condemned man is among five judicial misconduct charges that Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is up against. Nicknamed “Sharon Killer” among critics for a tough-on-crime reputation, Keller is the highest-ranking judge in Texas to be put on trial by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct. The judge overseeing the trial will submit a report to the commission, which could dismiss the charges, issue
SAN ANTONIO – As lawyers frantically tried to file the last-minute appeal that could have halted the execution of a death row inmate, the Texas judge who oversaw the only court who could hear it was preparing to shut the doors for the day. “We close at 5,” Judge Sharon Keller told a court staffer Sept. 25, 2007. The appeal was never heard, and four hours later, convicted killer Michael Wayne Richard was executed. Now it’s Keller who will be before a judge, facing charges that could end her career in a special trial that begins today in San Antonio. Denying the rights of a condemned man is among five judicial misconduct charges that Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is up against.
As lawyers frantically tried to file the last-minute appeal that could have halted the execution of a death row inmate, the Texas judge who oversaw the only court who could hear it was preparing to shut the doors for the day. “We close at 5,” Judge Sharon Keller told a court staffer Sept. 25, 2007. The appeal was never heard, and four hours later, convicted killer Michael Wayne Richard was executed. Now it’s Keller who will be before a judge, facing charges that could end her career in a special trial that begins today in San Antonio. Denying the rights of a condemned man is among five judicial misconduct charges that Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is up against. Nicknamed “Sharon Killer” among critics for a tough-on-crime reputation, Keller is the highest-ranking judge in Texas to be put on trial by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct. The judge overseeing the trial will submit a report to the commission, which could dismiss the charges, issue
SAN ANTONIO – As lawyers frantically tried to file the last-minute appeal that could have halted the execution of a death row inmate, the Texas judge who oversaw the only court who could hear it was preparing to shut the doors for the day. “We close at 5,” Judge Sharon Keller told a court staffer Sept. 25, 2007. The appeal was never heard, and four hours later, convicted killer Michael Wayne Richard was executed. Now it’s Keller who will be before a judge, facing charges that could end her career in a special trial that begins today in San Antonio. Denying the rights of a condemned man is among five judicial misconduct charges that Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is up against. Sources: http://news.bostonherald.
