Constitutional Law

Texas Judge Faces Impeachment

Uproar ensued after the 2007 execution of convicted murderer and rapist Michael Richard, with reverberations continuing through the Texas judiciary.

On Sept. 27, 2007, attorneys for Richard sought 20 extra minutes to appeal the death sentence of their client. The delay was necessary, attorneys said, due to computer problems. The subject of the appeal was the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision – just hours before – to consider a Kentucky case questioning the constitutionality of lethal injection.

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller refused to keep the court open past the standard closing time of 5 p.m. that day. Richards was executed by lethal injection later that evening.

Since then, Texas has become one of the last states to allow emergency e-mails in death penalty appeals. And now, with public trust in the Texas judiciary at a titanic low, Judge Keller is facing impeachment for gross neglect of duty.

State Rep. Lon Burnam (D-Ft. Worth) filed the resolution, saying “It’s one thing for a banker to close shop at five o’clock sharp. But a public official who stands between a human being and the death chamber must be held to a higher standard.”

Keller, a Republican who was unavailable for comment during the holiday on Monday, faces good odds of retaining her post on Texas’s high criminal court. Currently, both the House and Senate are held by Republican majorities in Texas. Impeachment requires the House to find appropriate grounds, giving the Senate responsibility to conduct a trial. No state judge has been impeached in Texas since 1970.

H/T: How Appealing.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on February 17, 2009 (boomark / email).