"And so the judge who failed miserably at dispensing justice to Michael Richard will now suck up public time, money and effort trying to capture it for herself. This at a time of deep budget cuts and shortfalls within the criminal justice system in Texas that are forcing officials there to do the unthinkable: close prisons. If Keller cared about these things more than she does about salvaging her reputation -- good luck with that -- this litigation would be at an end. Then again, if Keller possessed the sort of integrity and sacrifice the public demands and deserves from its jurists, she would have never left court early that day in September 2007 to meet the repairman at her home."
ANDREW COHEN: POLITICS DAILY; This Blog describes itself as "an online newspaper for the general reader updated every day, throughout the day. Since our launch on April 27, 2009, we’ve worked hard to distinguish ourselves the old-fashioned way, with heavily reported, well-written stories produced by some of the best reporters and editors in the business. We offer a mix of straight news and opinion -- and a mix of views in our reported commentary." Andrew Cohen is described as, "a two-time Edward R. Murrow Award-winner and legal editor and chief network legal analyst and commentator for CBS News Radio and its hundreds of television and radio affiliates around the country. He has been a contributing essayist for CBS News’ “Sunday Morning” program and is regularly featured on CBS Radio’s “The Osgood Files.” He also writes the “Open Bar” column for Vanity Fair Online, and is a correspondent for the Atlantic Online. An attorney by training, Cohen covers news out of the United States Supreme Court, lower federal courts, the Justice Department, and the legal events and issues raised by the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, the campaign-finance and same-sex marriage court cases."
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BACKGROUND: Justice Sharon Keller has attained notoriety for allegations that she allowed convicted murderer and rapist Michael Richard to be executed on September 25, 2007 - notwithstanding his attempt to file a stay of execution - because the court clerk's office closes at 5. Keller is of particular interest blog because of the opinion she wrote for the majority in the Roy Criner case. Wikipedia informs us that: "Sharon Faye Keller (born in Dallas, Texas, 1953) is the Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which is the highest court for all criminal matters in the State of Texas. Because of her position, she has been involved in many high-profile and controversial cases, and has thus received widespread news coverage......In 1998, Keller she wrote the majority opinion in a 5-3 (one judge abstaining) decision that denied a new trial to Roy Criner. Criner had been convicted of sexual assault in 1990, but newly-available DNA testing had shown that the semen found in the victim was not his......Judge Tom Price, who ran for the Chief Judge seat, in a primary election, said that Keller's Criner opinion had made the court a "national laughingstock." Judge Mansfield, who had sided with the majority in denying Criner a hearing, told the Chicago Tribune that, after watching the Frontline documentary, reviewing briefs and considering the case at some length, he voted "the wrong way" and would change his vote if he could. "Judges, like anyone else, can make mistakes ... I hope I get a chance to fix it." He stated that he hoped Criner's lawyers filed a new appeal as he felt Criner deserved a get a new trial......Following the (appeal court's) refusal to order a new trial, the cigarette butt found at the scene (and not adduced at trial) was subjected to DNA testing.The DNA on the cigarette was not a match for Criner, but it was a match for the semen found in Ogg. Ogg's DNA was also found on the cigarette, indicating that she shared a cigarette with the person who had sex with her (and who presumably killed her). These results convinced the district attorney, local sheriff and the trial judge that Criner was not guilty. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended he be pardoned and, citing "credible new evidence [that] raises substantial doubt about [Criner's] guilt," then-Governor George W. Bush pardoned him in 2000.
The thorough, unabridged Wikipedia article on Keller can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Keller
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"The story of Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Sharon Keller, who blew off a legitimate appeal from a condemned man hours before he was executed, has long been a shocking and dismal one," Andrew Cohen's "Politics Daily" post begins, under the heading, "Texas Judge Sharon Keller Fights Reprimand Over Death Row Appeal."
"Now it has become ironic, too, for the famously coldhearted judge has become precisely what coldhearted judges all over the country secretly detest: She's become a nuisance appellant, a losing litigant who hasn't yet learned that sometimes it's just better to quit while you are behind," the post continues.
"On Friday, for example, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct weakly reprimanded Keller for her truly shameful role in the final (attempted) appeal of Michael Richard. The commission could have sought her ouster but settled for giving her what it called a "public warning." But instead of accepting that gentle slap on the wrist, instead of being grateful for still having a taxpayer-funded job, Keller and her attorney immediately vowed to appeal the commission's conclusions. Ironic, no, that a judge who thought so little of Richard's appeal would think so much of her own?
Judge Sharon KellerThe ugly story is familiar to those of you who have been reading along with me through the years. Richard was scheduled to die in Texas by lethal injection on Sept. 25, 2007, but on the morning of his execution the United States Supreme Court accepted a case involving lethal injection procedures. A stay of execution for Richard should have been almost ministerial in nature -- and, indeed, scheduled executions via lethal injection were halted all over the country pending the court's resolution of the case we now know as Baze v. Rees. Except in Judge Keller's court.
Keller didn't assist Richard's lawyers in getting that appeal filed. In fact, she actively worked against those lawyers to ensure that their appeal would not be filed in time. She didn't tell her fellow judges to expect a Richards filing -- they didn't find out until the next morning that Keller had blocked the attempt to file. Knowing that she alone had determined Richard's fate that day, Keller went home to meet a repairman at her house. Richard was executed that night, his final appeal never heard by the courts. This from a jurist who was known before the incident as "Killer" Keller for her views on the death penalty.
What Keller did (and did not do that day) that day, the commission declared on Friday, "constitutes willful or persistent conduct" that "is clearly inconsistent with the proper performance of her duties as a judge" and "casts public discredit on the judiciary and the administration of justice" in Texas. And certainly it is this language -- and not the "public warning," whatever that means -- that has Keller fired up. After getting the verdict, the judge and her attorney turned upon the commission in a decidedly unjudicious manner. "It is perhaps not surprising that the same commission that made the charges finds them now to be valid despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary," Keller's lawyer said. "Judge Keller looks forward to challenging this decision."
And so the judge who failed miserably at dispensing justice to Michael Richard will now suck up public time, money and effort trying to capture it for herself. This at a time of deep budget cuts and shortfalls within the criminal justice system in Texas that are forcing officials there to do the unthinkable: close prisons. If Keller cared about these things more than she does about salvaging her reputation -- good luck with that -- this litigation would be at an end. Then again, if Keller possessed the sort of integrity and sacrifice the public demands and deserves from its jurists, she would have never left court early that day in September 2007 to meet the repairman at her home."
The post can be found at:
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/07/19/texas-judge-sharon-keller-fights-reprimand-over-death-row-appeal/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-feature-cases-issues-and.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
