This past week the State of Texas experienced a rare event. The Chief Justice of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals was on trial before the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct. Judge Sharon Keller is the highest ranking judge ever to be tried by the Commission on Judicial Conduct. Judge Keller was charged with five different violations relating to her conduct of closing the clerk's office of the court exactly at 5:00 pm on the day of the execution of Michael Wayne Richard. The attorneys representing the defendant had called the court to notify that they needed to file a last-minute stay of execution due to action by the United States Supreme Court that very day and would not make the 5:00 pm closing. The attorneys asked the judge to allow them to file the pleadings after 5:00 pm and Judge Keller said, "no."
The hearing has provided an interesting glimpse into the judge's reasoning. Judge Keller testified about the Texas Defender Service, "they did have all day." (It should be noted that the pleadings were ready to be filed by 5:45 pm to 5:56 pm according to witnesses at the hearing. Also the Texas Defender Service had computer problems that hampered their ability to meet the closing deadline.) Judge Keller testified about last-minute execution day pleadings in general, that they “tend to be voluminous and meritless.” Then in response to questions about her actions of that day she said, that she was “doing exactly what [she] was supposed to do.” When given the ability to seem less harsh, the judge rejected that chance. She was asked at the hearing if whether, knowing what she knew then, and based on what the attorneys for the defendant said and what they asked, would she do anything different. Judge Keller responded that she would "not do anything different." When questioned about whether she had anything to say to her critics. The judge testified: “I believe they were misled by information that was deliberately provided to them largely by TDS (Texas Defender Service),” and “we wouldn’t be here today if it hadn’t happened.” The judge remains unrepentant for any of her actions. Now the judge who presided at the trial must make findings and present those to the state’s judicial conduct commission, which will have the choice to dismiss the charges, issue a censure or recommend removal from the bench.
On the same day that Judge Keller refused to keep the clerk's office open for 45 to 56 minutes longer, the United States Supreme Court granted review of a Kentucky case that challenged whether the lethal injection procedure in Kentucky violated the 8th Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Starting that day, the U. S. Supreme Court stayed all executions using lethal injection during the time they were deciding the case. From that day until the Supreme Court’s final decision on the matter seven months later, only one man on death row was executed in the United States of America. That man was Texas inmate, Michael Wayne Richard who was executed at 8:23 pm.
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