MSNBC | Report: Embattled Texas judge should keep job

[Heidi]

Misconduct alleged for closing court before death-row inmate could appeal
updated 5:36 p.m. ET Jan. 20, 2010

SAN ANTONIO - An embattled Texas judge who closed her court before a death-row inmate could file his final appeal should not lose her job or receive any further punishment beyond the "public humiliation" she has faced, a judge presiding over her ethics trial said in a report released Wednesday.

Judge Sharon Keller still faces five judicial misconduct charges for refusing to keep her court open past 5 p.m., and the state commission that will ultimately decide Keller's fate is not bound by the recommendations in Wednesday's report.

But the report makes it clear that Keller is not to blame for a twice-convicted killer being executed Sept. 25, 2007.

<snip>

Mocked as "Sharon Killer" by her detractors, Keller has remained the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals since the uproar began after Michael Wayne Richard was executed. At the heart of the charges against her is whether she denied Richard the ability to file a late appeal in the hours before his execution.

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Houston Chronicle Opinion: Keller is lucky judge wasn't just like her

[Ken Burch]

1. And the reason she gets cut a break is....?

:wtf:

[Heidi]

2. Five charges of judicial misconduct are still pending.

There's hope.

[TexasObserver]

3. I'm very disappointed, but not surprised.

She should not be on the bench, but the Texas judiciary is run by Republicans, from top to bottom, and they are very political. They want the public to know they're the "hang 'em high" party here.

I expect more of the same.

[Heidi]

5. Surely, even among the Republicans, at least a sliver of logic exists.

But perhaps I'm too optimistic.

I wonder what other members of the Texas bar make of this report?

[TexasObserver]

7. You'd think so, but they have no shame in their game.

And don't call me Shirley!
--- (mandatory homage to Airplane!)


Most members of the bar in Texas just don't give a damn about the Court of Criminal Appeals, and those who do are either criminal defense attorneys or prosecutors. The CCA is OWNED by prosecutors. OWNED. It's probably the most backward court of appeals in the nation.

[Heidi]

8. Har!

Smarty pants. ;)

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

4. Keller is a joke even in the most conservative judicial circles,

She lobbied HARD for a nomination to a higher court while Bush was in office and didn't even get considered, her crowning achievement of sleaze was casting a murder victim as a promiscuous alcoholic who must have had sex with a dozen men, three women and a goat the day she was murdered as grounds to disregard a DNA exoneration.

"It doesn't mater it isn't his DNA, she fucked anything that moved and the murderer probably wore a condom!"

[Heidi]

6. Disgusting.

Even if that victim were an alcoholic and had sex with a dozen men, three women and a goat, that's not consent to be murdered. One would think a judge might understand that, huh? :(

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

10. The "logic" behind it was...

The defendant who was serving a life sentence did not deposit the DNA in the rape and murder victim. In the appeal she argued that because the victim was allegedly promiscuous it didn't matter that the DNA didn't match the man convicted of the crime, since she probably had sex with another gentleman just before being murdered.

There was no actual evidence presented or even known of the victims sexual history, Keller just invented it as a possible explanation as to why the DNA didn't match - naturally the convicted being innocent was not a possible scenario.

Keller is just throws red meat to the angry white assholes of Texas, she is a lousy judge and a lousy human being - but red meat wins elections down there.

[joeybee12]

9. Honor among thieves...and in this case the thieves are the judges...

...disgusting.