Come Deliver the Peoples’ Judicial Complaint Against Judge Keller

Why: Judge Sharon Keller has violated the Judicial Code of Conduct and damaged the integrity of the Texas judiciary. She should resign or be removed from office. On Sept 25, Keller said “We close at 5” and refused to accept an appeal 20 minutes after 5pm from a man set to be executed at 6 pm that day. She did not consult with the duty judge or any other judges on the court before refusing to accept the appeal. Michael Richard was executed on Sept 25, but he would not have been executed that night if Keller had not acted unethically and violated his constitutional rights. Richard was the last person executed in the U.S.before the start of the current de facto moratorium pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Baze v. Rees case on the constitutionality of lethal injection as a method of execution.

Date: Friday, Nov 16 at 4:45

Schedule:

4:45 pm Start to gather and get in line to deliver letters urging Keller to resign and the copy of the judicial complaint to the Clerk of the Court.
5:00 The court closes, but we want to have people standing in line with letters to deliver, so that the court is inconvenienced and forced to stay open an extra 20 minutes to serve everyone in line.
5:20 Rally with speakers outside on the Court plaza.

Place: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals,
201 West 14th Street
Austin, Tx

(This is the official address. We will meet on the plaza around the corner facing Congress Ave.)

Action: We will be delivering a copy of a judicial complaint against Sharon Keller signed so far by more than 1300 members of the public.

You can still sign the complaint by clicking here or visiting the website www.SharonKiller.com

We ask that people bring their own personally written letters urging Keller to resign and you can deliver yours to the Clerk of the Court.

The Austin American-Statesman is reporting Sunday that:

Marsha Richard, the widow of the latest man to be executed in Texas, has withdrawn her lawsuit against Judge Sharon Keller so she can refile it in Austin federal court, her lawyer said Saturday.

Richard’s original lawsuit, filed last week in Houston, accused Keller of exceeding her authority as presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest criminal court, when she refused to accept a death penalty appeal after the court’s 5 p.m. closing time.

…

Richard’s lawyer, Randall Kallinen of Houston, said he is moving the lawsuit because most potential trial witnesses live in Austin.

“I also want the jury to be able to walk into the Court of Criminal Appeals and see where that phone call came in,” Kallinen said. He said the change also allowed him to beef up portions of the suit dealing with judicial immunity, the lawsuit’s highest hurdle. Judges are immune from lawsuits dealing with their judicial actions, but can under limited conditions be sued over administrative decisions.

Kallinen said he withdrew the lawsuit Thursday and mailed the new version to the Austin federal court, where he anticipates it will be filed Tuesday.

Sign the complaint here.

We will deliver a copy of the complaint to the clerk of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for distribution to Sharon Keller and the other judges on the Court. We will also mail a copy to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

You can also bring your own personally written letter to the rally and deliver it to Sharon Keller urging her to resign.

SharonKiller.com

Texas Monthly’s December issue has an article by Mike Hall calling for Sharon Keller to be impeached, according to Evan Smith’s blog:

When a man’s life is on the line—to say nothing of the U.S. Constitution—our top criminal judge should behave like one: with prudence, fairness, and a calm hand. It’s time for Keller to go. If the commission doesn’t act quickly, we’ll have to wait until January 2009, when the Legislature—which has the power to oust high judges—reconvenes, or worse, 2012, when Keller is up for reelection. The fact is, we need to do it now. Impeach Sharon Keller.

That sounds similar to what we wrote on October 3:

“Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller should resign or be impeached and removed from office for her conduct regarding the execution of Michael Richard. As long as Keller is in office, the people of Texas can not be sure that justice is being done with integrity.”

Below is a scanned copy of the lawsuit filed against Sharon Keller by the widow of Michael Richard. You can also download it here. Grits for Breakfast has a post on the Keller controversy here.

Sign the judicial complaint against Keller here.

Pictured are Marsha Richard and Randall Kallinen. Photo by Sandrine Ageorges.