Public Warning Tossed Against ‘We Close at 5’ Texas Judge
A three-judge special court of review has dismissed a “public warning” against the Texas judge who refused to keep the state’s top criminal court open late for an execution-eve appeal.
The decision means the case is over for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller, according to her lawyer, Charles “Chip” Babcock. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Houston Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman have stories.
Keller reportedly answered “We close at 5,” when she received a phone call in September 2007 asking her to authorize a court clerk to wait a short time for the appeal on behalf of death-row inmate Michael Wayne Richard. He was executed later that evening.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct had issued a public warning after a special master recommended that no formal action be taken. The special court of review said that the commission wasn’t authorized under state law to issue a public warning, the Houston Chronicle explains. Instead its only choices were to issue a more serious public censure, a recommendation for removal or retirement, or a dismissal of the case.
