From the Austin American-Statesman:
The special court of review next Monday will hear Judge Sharon Keller’s request to summarily dismiss a public reprimand from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.The hearing on Keller’s motion to dismiss will be at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 20 at the Texas Supreme Court in downtown Austin. Each side will have up to 45 minutes to argue.The commission, which investigates allegations of judicial misconduct, ruled in July that Keller violated Court of Criminal Appeals procedures when she closed the court clerk’s office at 5 p.m., allowing rapist-murderer Michael Richard to be executed later that night without his final appeal being heard in court.Keller appealed the rebuke, and the three-judge court of review was created by a random drawing of state appeals court justices to hear her arguments.Keller’s motion to dismiss asks the special court to void the reprimand and drop all charges, arguing that the commission exceeded its authority, violated the judge’s due process rights and rebuked Keller for violating a court rule that was nothing more than an unwritten protocol.
