Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is the court of last resort for all criminal matters in the State of Texas, United States. The Court, which is based in the state capital Austin, is composed of a Presiding Judge and eight Judges.

[http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/txconst/articles/cn000500.html Article V of the Texas Constitution] vests the judicial power of the state and describes the Court's jurisdiction and sets rules for judicial eligibility, elections, and vacancies.

Jurisdiction

Only Texas and Oklahoma have two courts of last resort. In Texas, the Court of Criminal Appeals has final jurisdiction over all criminal matters, while the Texas Supreme Court is the last word on all non-criminal matters.

The Court of Criminal Appeals exercises discretionary review over criminal cases, which means that it may choose whether or not to review a case. The only cases that the Court must hear are those involving the sentencing of capital punishment or the denial of bail.

Court Composition

The Court is composed of a Presiding Judge and eight Judges (unlike the Texas Supreme Court which is composed of a Chief Justice and eight Justices). Each Judge serves a six-year term, and they are elected in staggered partisan elections. The Presiding Judge position is a separately designated elected seat from the others. In order to be a Judge, a person must be at least 35 years of age, a United States and Texas citizen, licensed to practice law in Texas, and must have practiced law at least 10 years. A person 75 years or older cannot run for a seat on the Court of Criminal Appeals. [ [http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/80R/billtext/html/HJ00036F.HTM 80(R) HJR 36 - Enrolled version - Bill Text ] ] A person who becomes 75 during their term of office cannot serve more than four years of their term of office. [ [http://austin.about.com/od/politics/i/2007_prop14.htm Proposition 14 - Justice Mandatory Retirement Amendment Pros and Cons Texas Constitutional Amendment on November 2007 Ballot ] ] The Governor of Texas, subject to Senate confirmation, may appoint a Judge to serve out the remainder of any unexpired term until the next general election.

Like the Texas Supreme Court, the Judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals are currently all Republican.

The current Judges of the Court are:

* Sharon Keller, Presiding Judge

* Lawrence E. Meyers, Judge

* Tom Price, Judge

* Paul Womack, Judge

* Cheryl Johnson, Judge

* Michael Keasler, Judge

* Barbara Hervey, Judge

* Charles Holcomb, Judge

* Cathy Cochran, Judge

Capital Appeal Controversy

On September 25, 2007, Presiding Judge Sharon Keller refused convicted murderer Michael Richard's plea for a 20-minute extension to submit an appeal beyond the court's 5 p.m. closing time, due to his lawyer's alleged computer breakdown.Cite web|url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=3724883&page=1|title=Judge: 'We Close at 5'|accessdate=2007-11-10|publisher=American Broadcasting Corporation|year=2007|work=ABC|format=HTML] Following the denial of his stay application by the U.S. Supreme Court, [ [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/07-6705.htm Docket for 07-6705 ] ] Richard was executed later that night. The U.S. Supreme Court had earlier that day accepted for consideration a case known as Baze v. Rees from Kentucky in which two death row inmates were challenging the constitutionality of lethal injection as a method of execution. Richard was the last person executed in the United States after the U.S. Supreme Court accepted the Baze case. Keller, the Presiding Judge, made the decision not to accept the late appeal without consulting the duty judge or any of the other judges on the court. As a result, several judicial complaints were filed against Keller with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals subsequently changed its rules to allow for late submissions in death penalty cases and other emergency situations, [ [http://www.cca.courts.state.tx.us/rules/ememail.htm Court of Criminal Appeals | Emergency E-Mail Filing ] ] and recently enabled [http://www.cca.courts.state.tx.us/rules/ememail.htm email] filing in death penalty execution cases and certain other emergency situations.

External links

* [http://www.cca.courts.state.tx.us/ Official Website for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals]

References