Covering for Keller: CCA Damage Control Tour 2009



The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals sent one of its senior members
around the state this week for an unusual PR blitz, according to the
Dallas News editorial board:

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals wants to get a message out. And
so senior Judge Lawrence E. Meyers embarked on a tour to convey it to
major Texas newspapers. Here's the gist of his message: We're not as
inept and indifferent as you think we are. Yes, Presiding Judge
Sharon Keller decided 18 months ago to shut the court down with a
death appeal and execution pending, but we have better procedures
now. We even wrote them down. See, here's a printout. No more
confusion. No, we don't know exactly happened that fateful night, but
we're sure the upcoming hearing on Judge Keller will find out. Until
then, don't judge us harshly. OK, then. But it's tougher and tougher
to keep an open mind.

Judge Meyers insisted to the media his colleague Sharon Keller will
stay the course and fight the charges against her, but this seems
like a no-win situation for her. It's pretty clear Keller actually
did all the things alleged, so if the Judicial Conduct Commission
does nothing it will look like favoritism for a GOP muckety muck. If
she's removed, she lives out her career in disgrace.

If she survives the removal hearing and the Commission only
reprimands her, she'll be damaged goods that Democrats will beat on
like a piñata until 2012. She'll become the symbolic face of the
whole court, to the extent that's not true already. At a recent
meeting of attorneys discussing legislation to appoint instead of
elect judges, Sen. Robert Duncan was heard to say something to the
effect of, "Can anyone name a single judge on the Court of Criminal
Appeals besides Sharon Keller?" His question, I'm told, was met with
silence and smirks.

For those reasons, I'd half-expected Judge Keller to submit her
resignation and allow Governor Perry to appoint her replacement, but
it's beginning to look like she'll stick it out. There's no
accounting for hubris.

Speaking of the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, Chuck Lindell
at the Austin Statesman has an interesting piece analyzing what
actions were taken by the commission against wayward judges last
year, when ten judges were reprimanded publicly and another 26
privately. (There are descriptions of the private reprimands, though,
that give enough detail where it would be possible to tell if Judge
Keller receives one.) Three judges resigned last year rather than
face disciplinary procedures.