STORY: Hampton for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, published by the Dallas Morning News on October 7, 2012.
GIST: "The stakes are higher this year. The post now in question is held by a person who has brought embarrassment to the court. Presiding Judge Sharon Keller made herself and the state caricatures of indifference to justice, on more than one occasion, not just her infamous “we close at 5” comment that closed off a last-minute execution appeal. Voters have the chance to cleanse the court of a stain, and they should.........Keller, 59, was first elected to the court in 1994, pledging to be “pro-prosecution,” a chilling concept as we look at it in retrospect.
In 1998, she sided with a court majority that denied a retrial to a man serving 99 years for the rape-murder of a 16-year-old girl. DNA tests determined that semen on the victim was not Roy Criner’s, but Keller’s opinion speculated that he might have raped her with a condom. Fellow GOP Judge Tom Price said that made the court a “national laughingstock.” Gov. George W. Bush pardoned Criner in 2000, the year Keller won election to the court’s top job. It was in 2007 that Keller made national headlines again, telling an aide not to wait for a death-row inmate’s last-minute appeal — despite a waiting on-call judge — because “we close at 5.” The execution was carried out that evening."
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20121007-editorial-hampton-for-texas-court-of-criminal-appeals.ece
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I am monitoring this issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site. One word of caution: It may take several weeks for content from current posts to respond to the search. Search away!
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 found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
