Judge Keller Dodges Another Bullet

It looks like Judge Sharon Keller on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (the highest court in Texas for criminal appeals) has earned a new nickname -- "the teflon judge", because none of her wrongdoing seems to stick to her. After repeated ethical lapses, she's still a justice on Texas' highest criminal court.

In the recent past, she took off at five o'clock even though an execution was scheduled that night in Texas. It has always been court policy for a court justice to remain at the office on execution days in case an appeal needed to be lodged with the court, and that day it was Judge Keller's turn to stay. She ignored her judicial duties and left that day. When the convict's attorney's tried to make a last minute appeal, they could not locate Judge Keller. The execution proceeded without the appeal being made.

The appeal might not have saved the executed man, but it was Judge Keller's responsibility to at least hear the appeal. It was a clear dereliction of duty on her part. But after hearing the complaint about her conduct, a judicial commission refused to remove her from the bench (as should have happened). They basically just slapped her on the wrist. Now she has survived another investigation of her unethical behavior.

This time it regarded her hiding income and wealth, instead of declaring it on her state required financial disclosure statement. And we're not talking about her hiding a small amount here. No, she hid well over $2.5 million. It can be understandable that a state official might forget a small amount, but hiding millions of dollars can't be classified as a little mistake. You have to intentionally go out of your way to hide that much money.

But she got caught. Texans for Public Justice filed a complaint accusing Keller of violating Texas law by failing to disclose all of her income and financial holdings. An investigation was conducted by the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC). The TEC found she had indeed tried to hide much of her wealth from disclosure. Here is what she tried to hide (and it's a lot):

■ Eight interests in real property that were valued at more than $2.4 million in 2006 and at $2.8 million in 2007.

■ Between 100 and 499 shares of stock in a business.

■ Up to nine sources of income from interest, dividends, royalties and rents that totaled at least $121,500 in 2007.

■ One money market account and certificates of deposit – 20 in 2006 and 22 in 2007.

■ One "beneficial" interest in a business entity.

■ Board or executive positions – five in 2006 and four in 2007.

The TEC did fine the judge $100,000 (a record fine for the TEC). But Judge Keller (pictured) still gets to keep her job on the court. She still gets to make decisions about people who have been convicted of breaking state laws, even though she herself is guilty of breaking that same state's law.

It looks like it will be up to the voters to remove this sad excuse for a justice from the bench, since state Republican officials refuse to do it. She should already have been impeached, but the Republican-dominated legislature is not about to do that to a fellow Republican.

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.

Burnam Introduces Impeachment Resolution

On September 25, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court decided it would decide whether execution by lethal injection was constitutional or not. A Texas prisoner was scheduled to die at 6pm on that date using that method of execution. His attorneys believed his execution should be delayed until the Supreme Court made its decision, so they rushed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals -- only to find it was closed.

Now it was a tradition of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to stay open late when an execution was scheduled, to hear any last minute appeals. The judges rotate that duty among themselves. On that date, it was Judge Sharon Keller's turn to stay late (Keller is pictured above). Instead, she closed the court at 5pm and left, leaving no one to hear the last-minute appeal. Her action showed a remarkable callousness in light of the scheduled execution.

Since that time, the court has allowed attorneys to file last-minute appeals by e-mail. But it looked like Judge Keller would escape any real punishment for her dereliction of duty (and that's exactly what it was). However, Rep. Lon Burnam (D-Fort Worth) has filed HR 480 to initiate impeachment proceedings against the judge. He accuses her of "neglect of duty" and "willful disregard for human life".

Burnam says, "It's one thing for a banker to close shop at five o'clock sharp. But a public official who stands between a human being and the death chamber must be held to a higher standard."

Burnam's resolution calls for a special House committee that "shall conduct an investigation to consider whether to recommend that under Section 1, Article XV, Texas Constitution, and Chapter 665, Government Code, the House of Representatives adopt and present to the Texas Senate articles of impeachment against Judge Sharon Keller, Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, for gross neglect of duty and conducting her official duties with willful disregard for human life in connection with her actions on the evening of September 25, 2007, including her apparent irresponsible refusal to abide by the prior practice of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in order to receive the appeal of Michael Richard, which conduct may have resulted in Mr. Richard's deprivation of life without due process of law as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and Section 19, Article I, Texas Constitution, by means of a potentially unlawful execution by lethal injection, and in the embarrassment of the State of Texas in a manner that casts severe doubt on the impartiality of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the entire criminal justice system of this state."