Judge Ends Testimony In Case That Could Result In Her Removal
August 20, 2009
Texas top judge on the Court of Criminal Appeals completed her testimony in a case that could result in her removal from the bench. Judge Sharon Keller testified that she would have done the same thing if the case were to come up again.
Judge Keller faces five charges of judicial misconduct stemming from her refusal to keep the court clerk’s office open to receive appeals in a death penalty case. She contends that attorneys for Michael Wayne Richard had methods available to them to contact any of the nine judges on the court to submit appeals on his behalf.
The case won notoriety for Judge Keller, with anti-death penalty groups calling her “Judge Killer” for refusing to accept appeals in the case. Richard’s attorneys began a last ditch effort to save him just hours after the Supreme Court halted executions in Kentucky to hear arguements on the process that the state uses to impose the death penalty.
The judge hearing the case will submit his findings to the state’s commission on judicial conduct, who will then decide if they want to dismiss the charges, censure the judge or remove her from the bench.
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