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Sharon Keller
July 28, 2011
Meyers to challenge Keller in GOP primary
Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the state’s highest criminal court, will have a primary challenger in 2012.
Fellow Judge Lawrence Meyers, the longest serving member of the Court of Criminal Appeals, said he will seek to unseat Keller in the GOP primary in March.
In a memo to the court’s eight other judges, Meyers said he is running because he believes the top position on appellate courts should be rotated every eight to 10 years. Keller has been serving as presiding judge since 2001.
Keller was rebuked last year for closing the court at 5 p.m. despite knowing that lawyers wanted to file an appeal for an inmate facing imminent execution in 2007. A special court of review later tossed out the admonition.
Meyers does not plan to make the rebuke a centerpiece of his campaign, but he isn’t going to shy away from the issue, campaign spokesman Russ Keene said today.
The primary challenge is a free shot for Meyers, who would retain his seat even if Keller prevails. Meyers won a fourth six-year term in 2010, soundly defeating a Libertarian candidate.
Keller survived a primary challenge from another sitting Court of Criminal Appeals judge, Tom Price, in 2006. Keller defeated Price by 31,300 votes in a 53 to 47 percent victory.
Note: Cross-posted in the Statesman’s Virtual Capitol blog.
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June 18, 2010
Keller hearing ends; deliberations begin
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct hearing on Judge Sharon Keller ended a little after 2 p.m., and the 12 commissioners have begun deliberations.
Because today ends their three-day meeting, most observers expect the commissioners to decide the case today but announce their decision with a written order sometime in the future.
The commission can drop the charges, issue a public reprimand or recommend that Keller be removed as the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals. That recommendation would be considered by a specially created panel of seven appellate court judges.
Commissioners also could send questions back to the special master — District Judge David Berchelmann Jr. of San Antonio — but none of the commissioners’ questions indicated that will be needed.
Read the story in print tomorrow or online later tonight.
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Keller hearing ends; deliberations begin
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct hearing on Judge Sharon Keller ended a little after 2 p.m., and the 12 commissioners have begun deliberating in private.
Because today ends their three-day meeting, most observers expect the commissioners to decide the case today but announce their decision with a written order sometime in the future.
The commission can drop the charges, issue a public reprimand or recommend that Keller be removed as the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals. That recommendation would be considered by a specially created panel of seven appellate court judges.
Commissioners also could send questions back to the special master — District Judge David Berchelmann Jr. of San Antonio — but none of the commissioners’ questions indicated that will be needed.
I’ll post a lot of the arguments later tonight or this weekend. Meanwhile, deadline for the print edition beckons. We’ll also post that story online later tonight.
Permalink | | Categories: Sharon Keller, Sharon Keller
Keller hearing ends; deliberations begin
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct hearing on Judge Sharon Keller ended a little after 2 p.m., and the 12 commissioners have begun deliberating in private.
Because today ends their three-day meeting, most observers expect the commissioners to decide the case today but announce their decision with a written order sometime in the future.
The commission can drop the charges, issue a public reprimand or recommend that Keller be removed as the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals. That recommendation would be considered by a specially created panel of seven appellate court judges.
Commissioners also could send questions back to the special master — District Judge David Berchelmann Jr. of San Antonio — but none of the commissioners’ questions indicated that will be needed.
I’ll post a lot of the arguments later tonight or this weekend. Meanwhile, deadline for the print edition beckons. We’ll also post that story online later tonight.
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Keller hearing beginning
A hearing is set to begin this morning into charges that Judge Sharon Keller improperly closed the state’s highest criminal court to a death row appeal.
The hearing, in the Reagan State Office Building near the state Capitol, gives prosecutors and defense lawyers one hour each to make their final pitch to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
The commission is an independent state agency that investigates and disciplines judges in Texas.
Keller is charged with violating her duty as a judge, and with bringing discredit upon the judiciary, for closing her court to a 2007 execution-day appeal by murderer Michael Richard. Keller denies the charge and blames the inmate’s lawyers for the failures that resulted in Richard being executed without his final state appeal being heard in court.
The lawyers are supposed to discuss their objections to the findings by District Judge David Berchelmann Jr., who led a four-day hearing into the charges in August. Blaming the botched appeal on Richard’s lawyers with the nonprofit Texas Defender Service. Berchelmann recommended that Keller be exonerated.
The prosecutors, known in this process as examiners, will ask the commission to reprimand Keller or recommend that she be removed from office.
Defense lawyer Chip Babcock will ask that all charges be dropped and that Keller be exonerated.
Twelve members of the commission (one chose to recuse) can ask questions after each presentation, with examiners going first and reserving time for a rebuttal.
The commissioners are expected to discuss the case in private after the hearing. Even if they come to a decision, however, nobody expects an announcement today. A written decision will be released at a later, unspecified date.
Keller has served on the Court of Criminal Appeals since 1995 and became presiding judge in 2001. The Republican’s third six-year term ends in 2012.
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April 6, 2009
Keller hearing to begin Aug. 17
The trial into charges that Sharon Keller violated her duty as head of the state’s highest criminal court will begin Aug. 17.
The trial, which could last a week or longer, will be in Austin in a location to be determined, said Seana Willing, executive director of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which charged Keller with improperly closing her court to an after-hours appeal by death row inmate Michael Richard in 2007.
“Now it’s up to us to find a location to accommodate a large group of people, because at least for the first day or so, I imagine the trial will be heavily attended,” Willing said today.
Next, the Texas Supreme Court will appoint a judge to act as special master to run the trial. The special master will issue findings about whether Keller should be exonerated, publicly reprimanded or removed from office.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct can vote to exonerate or reprimand Keller. A vote to oust Keller from office would be reviewed by a special panel of seven appellate court judges.
Keller has served on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals since 1994.
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