Judge Keller's Problems Increase

Judge Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, was in enough trouble already. She left her office at 5:00pm on the day a Texas inmate was scheduled to be executed, even though it was her turn to stay late in case further appeals were filed with the court. Attorneys tried to file a last minute appeal, but could not find Judge Keller.

Her actions on that day were unconscionable, and her behavior is now being investigated by the Commission on Judicial Conduct. Her answer to the charge is to pass the buck. She blames the inmate's attorneys because they didn't contact one of the other judges. This is a ridiculous defense. The other judges were not required to be available -- Judge Keller was.

Judge Keller is also asking the charges be dismissed because the state will not pay her lawyer at taxpayer expense, and said it would be "financially ruinous" for her to pay her own legal expenses. This, even though her last filing with the Texas Ethics Committee showed an income of $275,000 and a property in Austin valued at $1 million. Sounds to me like she's in a better position to pay her own attorney than most defendants.

But it gets even worse. According to the Dallas Morning News, Judge Keller owns nearly $2 million worth of property that she failed to list on her ethics committee report. That is a clear violation of Texas law for elected officials like Keller. It looks like her problems have just multiplied.

Andrew Wheat of Texans for Public Justice called this "extremely outrageous", and said, "Is this an insane amount of carelessness year after year, in which case should this person be our highest criminal judge? Is it willful hiding of assets, in which case that person probably isn't fit to be our top criminal judge? I don't know."

I have to agree. Judge Keller is not fit to be the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.