Joan Cheever who once worked at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals as a briefing attorney, has an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle that concludes by asking, “But I still would like to know: Did Keller close the office at 5 p.m. because she’s dumb or just mean?”

Sign our complaint and tell the State Commission on Judicial Conduct that Keller should be removed or compelled to resign.

More from Cheever’s op-ed:

As quick as a hiccup, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller denied Richard’s lawyers the 20 minutes they needed to print the darn thing out and get it to the court —11 copies of Richard’s 108-page petition and get it to the court. E-mails aren’t allowed. And I guess a frantic, pleading phone call doesn’t count, either.

Keller didn’t even pick up the phone and call the other judges on the court to get their opinions. At least two of them have said they were hanging around the court that evening, just waiting for Richard’s application. The judges were ready to vote. The U.S. Supremes couldn’t step in, procedurally, unless and until the Texas judges called it first.

All the Texas judges had to have been available by phone for this vote. At least that’s what they are supposed to do at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, most especially in the hours before an execution. At least that’s what they did in 1983, when I worked there as a briefing attorney. In the weeks and days and, most especially, on the day and in the hours leading up to a midnight execution, everyone knew about it — the lawyers, the court clerk, the clerical staff, even the nightly cleaning crew.

Cheever is a former briefing attorney for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the author of Back From the Dead: One woman’s search for the men who walked off America’s death row (John Wiley & Sons 2006).

Here is a pdf of Rep Farrar’s letter to the commission.

Anyone can sign on to a judicial complaint againts Keller by clicking here.

October 19, 2007

State Commission on Judicial Conduct
P.O. Box 12265
Austin, TX 78711

Dear Members of the Commission:

I am writing to file a formal complaint against Judge Sharon Keller, Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. On the evening of September 25, 2007, Judge Keller refused to keep her office open past 5pm to accept the pleading of Michael Richard, a man scheduled to be executed by lethal injection that same night. Judge Keller’s unethical actions require the commission to take immediate disciplinary measures against her.

Mr. Richard’s constitutional rights were denied by Judge Keller and he was executed later that night. This incident has cast a pall over the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and has greatly diminished the public’s perception of the courts as a fair and impartial mechanism for justice.

Judge Keller knew Mr. Richard’s pleading was on its way to the court and still she refused to open her doors and accept the submission. This may have been understandable in the case of a traffic ticket violation, but when a person’s life is at stake it is simply unconscionable. Judge Keller should be reprimanded promptly for her judicial misconduct. The damage done to the integrity of Texas courts is not irreversible; however, it must include stringent disciplinary action against Judge Keller, including the consideration of removing her from office.

Respectfully,

Representative Jessica Farrar
District 148

The Houston Chronicle is reporting that a third complaint has been filed against Sharon Keller. The first complaint was filed by twenty lawyers. A second complaint was filed by State Representative Lon Burnam. The Harris County Lawyers Association has now filed a third complaint. And another complaint by members of the general public that is being organized by Texas Moratorium Network will be filed against Keller on October 30.

Any members of the public can sign on to the complaint by clicking here. So far, more than 700 people have signed on to the general public members complaint.

From the Chronicle:

Joining a swelling tide of criticism, 130 attorneys from Harris County have filed a judicial conduct complaint condemning the actions of Judge Sharon Keller, who presides over the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

The latest complaint against Keller, filed late Wednesday by the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, also was signed by state District Judge Susan Criss of Galveston, retired state District Judge Jay W. Burnett and six regular citizens.

More

The Harris County defense bar is calling for all other state bar agencies to complain about Keller as well.

“Every bar group should be incensed at this conduct and this callousness,” said Patrick McCann, president of the Harris County group. “This judge knew what the effect of shutting that door was.”

Jordan Smith of the Austin Chronicle is reporting that Jim Harrington has “filed a grievance with the Texas Bar Association, seeking a revocation of Sharon Keller’s law license.”

Hmm, wonder what job Keller will get if she can’t be a lawyer anymore. She could be a prison guard, but the warden might not trust her alone after 5 with the inmates. She might start executing them on our own. Sign the complaint against Keller. 708 people have signed so far.

Rebeca Chapa of the San Antonio Express News writes in “In Texas, hang ’em high justice has dropped to a new low”

Let me see if I have this right.

Judge Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the state’s highest criminal court, doesn’t see anything wrong with closing the court’s doors at 5 p.m. sharp on a day when 1) the U.S. Supreme Court announces it will hear a precedent-setting lethal injection case and 2) a Texas man is set to be executed by lethal injection.

Wow. That’s some Texas justice there, boy.

Hooman Hedayti, who is writing a column this semester for the Daily Texan says in “Killer Keller Must Resign“:

To close at 5 p.m. and refuse to accept an appeal by a person about to be executed is a violation of judicial responsibility. When a person is about to be executed, our state’s highest criminal court needs to remain open for business. As long as Keller is in office, the people of Texas cannot be sure that justice is being done with integrity. Judge Sharon Keller should resign or be removed from office by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which is responsible for investigating allegations of judicial misconduct.

If you are as shocked as I was by Judge Sharon Keller’s refusal to accept an appeal 20 minutes after 5 p.m. from lawyers representing a man about to be executed, then sign on to the general public complaint against Judge Sharon Keller by going to SharonKiller.com. The complaint will be submitted to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct on Oct. 30.

and Jordan Smith of the Austin Chronicle says in “Closing Time? Attorneys Call for Justice’s Head“:

Keller claimed she was unaware that Dow had encountered computer problems and would need more time to get the appeal filed – but that’s either a lie or it indicates a serious internal communication problem at the court. Although Keller and CCA general counsel Ed Marty have said that the 5pm deadline is standard for the court, it doesn’t appear that the other CCA judges knew anything about the supposed rule. Several justices stayed late at work that evening in anticipation of the last-minute appeal; and Judge Cheryl Johnson, who was assigned to handle the Richard case, had no idea that Keller set the clearly arbitrary 5pm deadline. Johnson told the Austin American-Statesman that she was “dismayed” by Keller’s decision. “And I was angry,” she said. “If I’m in charge of the execution, I ought to have known about those things, and I ought to have been asked whether I was willing to stay late and accept those filings.”

In addition to refusing last-minute appeals, Keller’s office told the Chronicle that the judge is now declining to “accept any calls” regarding her actions in the Richard case. Similarly, Marty did not return calls requesting comment, nor did Judge Tom Price to whom the Chronicle was referred for comment. (Interestingly, Price dissented from the court’s decision last month to deny Turner’s stay, opining that he didn’t understand why the court would be willing to allow executions to go forward when the legality of the method was in question.) As such, at press time it was unclear whether the 5pm deadline – or, perhaps, the Keller Rule – is in fact standard procedure at all; judging by Johnson’s response, it’s hard to imagine that it is. Indeed, it is standard practice for courts to remain ready to accept such last-minute death-penalty appeals. University of Texas Law professor Jordan Steiker, who teaches constitutional law and is an expert in death penalty jurisprudence, said he doesn’t know of any other court handling death row appeals that claims such a deadline. “The decision by the [CCA] to close its doors follows in a long line of resistance by the court to constitu­tion­al norms,” he said, “and what is often said of boxing is certainly true for this court – it is a court without an eye left to blacken.”

Three executions were stayed today. One execution was set to take place tonight in Virginia, but was stopped by the U.S. Supreme Court. Two other executions that were scheduled to take place soon in Texas were also stayed. So, we seem to have it confirmed that we are in the midst of a national moratorium on executions.

The only things that could break the moratorium are if an inmate drops all appeals, if a state tries to execute someone by a method other than lethal injection or if Sharon Keller lies her way onto death row and starts executing people on her own. The Houston Chronicle has said that Keller has “abdicated her role as the state’s chief criminal justice to become its chief executioner”, so as long as we keep an eye on Keller, there should be no more executions in the U.S. until after the Supreme Court decides the Baze case on lethal injection.

Sign the complaint against Keller.

More on today’s stays from the Houston Chronicle:

In the nation’s most active death penalty state, two November executions have been halted because of pending capital punishment issues before the courts.

On Tuesday a federal judge in Sherman stopped the Nov. 6 execution of Allen Bridgers, whose attorneys claim he is mentally retarded. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that mentally retarded people cannot be executed.

In another case, a judge in Fort Worth stopped the Nov. 27 execution of Dale Devon Scheanette following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to consider the legality of lethal injection.

“The U.S. is clearly in what amounts to a de-facto death penalty moratorium,” said Bridgers’ attorney David Dow, who runs the Texas Innocence Network out of the University of Houston Law Center.

As an inmate was spared execution Wednesday in Virginia, the U.S. is headed toward the lowest number of executions since the mid-1990s. So far this year, 42 people have been executed, including 26 in Texas.