The Austin Chronicle picked up on the Sharon Keller profile on MySpace. The profile has been deleted twice now, assumedly at the request of Judge Killer herself, but it is back up for the third time, so check it out while you can.
On MySpace, her profile is listed as Sharon Killer, a play on the name of Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, whose reputation as a hanging judge has earned her a satirical spot on the cyber meet-and-greet circuit. A couple of anti-death penalty activists – Scott Cobb and Hooman Hedayati – crafted the cleverly penned Keller profile and blog to draw attention to the justice’s “ideologically driven” record on crime and punishment. And what a record it is. One of Keller’s greatest embarrassments to Texas involved her firm stance against giving prison inmate Roy Criner a new trial, even after a DNA test proved he didn’t commit the rape and murder for which he was convicted and sentenced to 99 years. It took Gov. George Bush, then a candidate for president, to step in and grant Criner clemency. Keller, a Republican, is running for re-election against Democrat J.R. Molina, a trial lawyer from Tarrant County. The Keller spoof is actually making its second appearance on the site after MySpace operators deleted the first effort last week. By the time you read this, it may have been killed off a second time, but go to profile.myspace.com/sharonkiller just for kicks and see what happens. – A.S.
