A faulty ethical compass makes Judge Sharon Keller unfit for the bench.



Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Feb. 24, 2009

It was late afternoon, and a repairman was due at her house. This is 
what apparently was on the mind of Judge Sharon Keller, the state’s 
top criminal judge, on the 2007 day that murderer Michael Wayne 
Richard was slated to die. So shortly before 5, when Richard’s 
attorneys asked for an extra few minutes to file an appeal, Keller 
defied execution day procedure and refused. She told her clerk to say 
the court closed at 5.
It is too late for rule of law to apply to Michael Wayne Richard. But 
it must be applied to Keller, whose deformed ethical compass makes 
her unfit to judge. If a new state probe of her conduct fails to 
prompt her removal, the Legislature should impeach her.
More than a year after her cavalier actions shocked the country, 
Keller has finally been called to account for her actions. Last 
Thursday, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct announced judicial 
proceedings against her, charging “willful or persistent conduct that 
casts public discredit on the judiciary.”
Also last week, State Rep. Lon Burnam submitted a resolution to 
impeach Keller, citing “gross neglect of duty” and “willful disregard 
for human life.”
All three descriptions are accurate. On any given execution day, 
Texas courthouses are active places. Because of the chance for last-
minute appeals, courthouses don’t have a strict closing time, judges 
work late and judges often hear last-minute pleadings from home, the 
Dallas Observer notes.
After all, a human life is at stake.
On the day of Richard’s execution, there was even more happening. 
That morning, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision to review 
the constitutionality of lethal injection — to which Richard was 
sentenced. This announcement created a de facto death penalty 
moratorium nationwide. But because the decision came late, Richard’s 
attorneys had to scramble, deciding how the news could be used in a 
workable appeal.
When their computer crashed that afternoon, however, the attorneys 
had the misfortune of calling a judge who cared not for legalities — 
but for punishment. Ignoring court procedure, Keller shut the door on 
them.
In retrospect, this might be expected of a judge who campaigned on 
the promise of being “pro-prosecution.” But the Texas justice system, 
which kills so many and has mistreated even more, cannot continue to 
bear that same label.
Removing Judge Sharon Keller will show the many watching this state 
that Texans don’t thirst for blood, but for justice.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/6279389.html