Sharon Keller

Sharon Keller (born in Dallas, Texas, 1953) is the Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which is the highest court for all criminal matters in the State of Texas.

Keller graduated from Rice University in 1975. She received her J.D. from Southern Methodist University in 1978. She was elected the first woman judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 1994. In 2000, she was elected presiding judge and re-elected in 2006. She is chairman of the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense. She serves on the Executive Board of the Capitol Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

The "We close at 5" Controversy

On Sep. 25, 2007, Keller refused a condemned man's plea for a 20-minute extension to submit an appeal beyond the court's usual 5 p.m. closing time.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] The man, Michael Richard, was executed later that night, despite indications that he had a strong basis for appeal. 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.

Keller stated that the court's clerk office would close at 5pm, which is required by state law. Judge Keller later stated that it has long been precedent in Texas for late appeals to be hand-delivered to the court or a judge, and not required to be filed with the clerk. Also, the inmate's attorney has been questioned why he failed to file, in the least, a handwritten motion for stay of execution before or after 5pm. Had he filed the motion, even if rejected, he would have been able to demonstrate to the US Supreme Court that the state appeals process had been exhausted.

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 email submissions in death penalty cases and other emergency situations. On April 16, 2008, the Supreme Court rejected the challenge in the Baze case, upholding Kentucky's method of execution.

External links

* [http://www.cca.courts.state.tx.us Official Website for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals]
* [http://www.truthinjustice.org/Death-Not-Fair.htm Death Isn't Fair (Texas Monthly)]

References