Killer Keller Digs Herself Deeper



By Jordan Smith

Nearly two dozen legal ethicists have signed on to a declaration 
filed Tuesday with the State Commission on Judicial Con duct calling 
for the ouster of Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon 
"Killer" Keller. Keller will face a hearing this summer on charges of 
official misconduct in connection with her actions on Sept. 25, 2007, 
when she effectively blocked death row inmate Michael Richard from 
filing a final appeal. When Richard's lawyers asked if the court 
would remain open to accept a late filing, Keller infamously 
announced that the court closes at 5pm. Richard was subsequently 
executed.
In their declaration, the ethicists – most of them law professors 
from universities across the country – cite statements Keller made on 
the campaign trail in 1994 about being "pro-prosecution" as evidence 
of her "manifest lack of impartiality." Moreover, they argue that 
Keller's failure to include on financial disclosure statements her 
interest in real estate worth roughly $2 million was part of a lie – 
an attempt to obtain state money to cover legal fees associated with 
the commission's charges against her. The Dallas Morn ing News first 
reported last month that Keller had apparently failed to make the 
financial disclosures, after she told the commission that requiring 
her to pay for her own defense would be "financially ruinous."
"Keller has committed serious violations of the Texas Code of 
Judicial Conduct," the ethicists wrote. "These violations are 
sufficiently serious to require that Judge Keller be removed from 
office."

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