Review chides US judge who refused death row appeal




A Texas judge who refused to open her courtroom to a last-minute death
penalty appeal should not be removed from her job, a judge reviewing the
case has found.

Judge Sharon Keller caused a firestorm by deciding on September 25, 2007
that she would not allow lawyers for death row prisoner Michael Richard to
file a final appeal against his death sentence.

But the judge reviewing the incident, David Berchelmann, ruled that
Richard's lawyers shared blame for "communication failures" on the day
Richard was executed.

"Although Judge Keller's conduct on that day was not exemplary, she did
not engage in conduct so egregious that she should be removed from
office," he wrote in a ruling obtained by AFP Thursday.

"Indeed, although Judge Keller's actions did not help the situation, the
majority of the problems involving the Richard execution were the
responsibility of the Texas defender service," he added.

The incident unfolded on September 25, 2007, when the US Supreme Court
announced it would consider whether execution by lethal injection was
constitutional.

Richard, 48, was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection that same
day at around 8:00pm.

His lawyers decided to file a motion seeking to halt his execution until
the Supreme Court ruled, but they reportedly ran into computer problems
that delayed them and called the courthouse to request it stay open for
another 20 minutes.

"We close at 5:00 pm," was the firm reply.

Richard was executed that evening and became the last person to be
executed by lethal injection in the United States before a 7 month
moratorium that lasted until the Supreme Court ruled.

Richard's lawyers discovered the day after their client's execution that
Keller was responsible for the refusal to keep the court open and went to
the press with the story, prompting a disciplinary committee to review her
conduct.

In August, Keller told the commission she had indeed said "We close at
5:00pm," but only because she knew there were other ways to file
last-minute appeals.

Berchelmann agreed, adding that Richard's lawyers "should have known of
the ways in which they could file last-minute documents."

He added that the evidence suggested the defense team was not having major
computer problems, and said that "its actions in the Richard case did not
match its typically estimable practice."

Berchelmann acknowledged that "Judge Keller certainly did not exhibit a
model of open communication," adding that "she should have been more open
and helpful."

"There is a valid reason why many in the legal community are not proud of
Judge Keller's actions," he continued.

But ultimately, he said, the attention drawn to the case by Richard's
lawyers, who he accused of putting Keller on trial in the media was
sufficient punishment.

"Her conduct... does not warrant removal from office or even further
reprimand beyond the public humiliation she has surely suffered," he
wrote.

The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that lethal injection was a
constitutional method of execution.

(source: Agence France-Presse)