Sharon Keller thought it was ok to close her court and execute someone even though she knew the U.S. Supreme Court had accepted for review a case that would likely halt executions while the highest court in the nation considers the issue of lethal injection. But other judges across the nation are stopping executions, such as these two executions that were scheduled in Texas.

From CBS News:

Dale Devon Scheanette, known as the “bathtub killer,” was scheduled to be put to death on November 27. But earlier this month a court delayed the execution indefinitely.

It’s the latest stay of execution that a court has granted for a Texas inmate in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to review the constitutionality of lethal injection as a method of execution.

A federal judge also stopped another upcoming scheduled execution today, that of Allen Bridgers, reports the Houston Chronicle.

Someone we know sent this letter to Governor Perry and the Legislature.

Dear Governor Perry and members of the Texas Legislature,

The English poet Alexander Pope saw his fellow men with a clear, if bitter, eye. Writing of judges like Sharon Keller who unnecessarily hurry events along for their own monstrous convenience–in this case,their dinners– he said, “And wretches hang that jurymen may dine.”

We’d all like to think that in our enlightened age, nothing so terrible could happen, but apparently it has. Ms. Keller’s decision to close her court arbitrarily early and thus deny Michael Richard any hope of appeal is breathtaking in its cruel heartlessness. With that decision, Ms. Keller forfeited her privilege to be called “Judge” and earned her the title “Monster.”

She should be removed from the Bench by whatever means is swift and final. Let her be the recipient of the justice she denied Mr. Michael.

Muriel Stubbs
Retired teacher
Houston

As of 9:50pm tonight, 626 people have so far signed on to our judicial complaint against Judge Sharon Keller.

You can sign the complaint by clicking here. Anyone can sign the complaint. It is intended as a way for ordinary people to bring their concerns to the attention of the members of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

We plan to send the complaint to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct on Oct 30.

The Houston Chronicle Editorial Board published a strongly worded editorial yesterday calling for removal of Chief Justice Sharon Keller from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals saying “since she will not face the voters until 2012, the miscarriage of justice perpetrated by Chief Justice Keller can only be remedied by a recommendation by the Judicial Conduct Commission to the Texas Supreme Court that she be removed from office”.

Congratulations to the Houston Chronicle. They failed to call for the death sentence for Kenneth Foster to be commuted to life, while most other major Texas papers wanted his sentence commuted. But now the Chronicle has beaten even the Dallas Morning News in calling for Keller to be removed from office.

More from the Chronicle’s Editorial:

Judge Keller let her personal bias in favor of the death penalty trample the right of now-executed prisoner Michael Richard to access the courts and have due process. In doing so, she abdicated her role as the state’s chief criminal justice to become its chief executioner.

As laid out in a complaint to Texas’ State Commission on Judicial Conduct signed by 20 distinguished Texas attorneys, including Houston’s Dick DeGuerin and University of Houston Law Center professor Michael Olivas, Judge Keller’s actions were legally inexcusable. The plot line could be straight from a Law and Order episode, with the twist that in this case it was the justice who committed the injustice.

After the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider a challenge to the constitutionality of lethal injection, attorneys for Richard, a convicted murderer, had less than a day to craft an appeal for a stay of execution pending resolution of the issue before the high court. A ruling by the Texas court was necessary before the U.S. Supreme Court could consider his appeal.

Because of computer problems, Richard’s lawyers requested that the Court of Criminal Appeals remain open past 5 p.m. to take the last-minute appeal. The judge assigned to the case, Cheryl Johnson, and two other judges had stayed late, anticipating that an appeal might be forthcoming before the execution scheduled later that evening. Without informing them of her decision, Judge Keller refused to allow the appeal to be filed after 5 p.m. Richard was executed hours later.

Even Keller’s court colleagues expressed dismay at her actions. Justice Johnson was quoted in the complaint as angry, because “if I’m in charge of the execution, I ought to have known about these things, and I ought to have been asked whether I was willing to stay late and accept those filings.” She indicated she would have accepted the brief, “because this is a death case.” Justice Paul Womack told the Chronicle he waited in his office till 7 p.m. because “it was reasonable to expect an effort would be made in some haste in light of the Supreme Court. I wanted to be sure to be available in case it was raised.”

Justice Keller’s response to the uproar was that the lawyers should have filed the appeal on time. After all, she said, “they had all day.” When an irreversible action like an execution is only hours away from occurring, Keller’s adherence to a 9 a.m.-to-5 p.m. justice schedule is mind boggling. Civil judges are available at all hours to sign temporary restraining orders as are criminal judges to approve search warrants. Yet in the taking of a life, the most profound action a judge will ever be involved in, Keller wants to stick to banker’s hours.

Today, State Rep Lon Burnam of Fort Worth sent a judicial complaint against Judge Sharon Keller to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. He is the second state legislator to file or sign on to a judicial complaint against Keller. Rep Harold Dutton was one of the 20 lawyers who signed the first complaint last week.

In other developments, the Waco Herald-Tribune wrote in an editorial today that “if Keller cannot be removed from her position, she should be disciplined for her outrageous behavior”.

More than 600 people have signed on to our judicial complaint from general public members that we will file on Oct 30. You can sign too!

LON BURNAM
DISTRICT 90 • FORT WORTH
October 15, 2007

State Commission on Judicial Conduct
PO Box 12265
Austin, TX 78711

Dear Members of the Commission:

I am writing to file a complaint with the Commission concerning the actions of Judge Sharon Keller, Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, on the evening of September 25. According to several news accounts, Judge Keller refused to keep her office open later than 5pm to receive the pleading of Michael Richard who was killed by lethal injection later that night. It is my opinion that her actions were unprofessional and unethical and constitute judicial misconduct. I urge you to take prompt and appropriate disciplinary action against Judge Keller,
which should include serious consideration of removal from office.

Judge Keller’s actions resulted in the loss of constitutional rights of Mr. Richard. Further, her actions have embarrassed the state of Texas and cast severe doubt on the impartiality of the Court of Criminal Appeals. The public’s perception of the fairness of the courts is vital to the maintenance of the rule of law. If disciplinary action is not taken against Judge Keller, this perception will be irreparably harmed.

It is simply unconscionable and unacceptable for any officer of the court to close the doors of the court when a pleading for a man’s life is known to be on the way. I urge you to take swift and decisive action to repair the damage done by Judge Keller to the integrity of Texas courts.

Sincerely,

Lon Burnam